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Is Noam Chomsky As Paranoid As Philip K. Dick?
Noted philosopher and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky was recently interviewed by the UK newspaper The Guardian. In the interview, he expressed his concern about spying by governments:
Chomsky, who has strongly supported the Occupy movement and spoken out against the Obama administration's use of drones, warned that young people were much less shocked at being spied on and did not view it as such a problem.
"Polls in the US indicate there is generational issue here that someone ought to look into – my impression is that younger people are less offended by this than the older generation. It may have to do with the exhibitionist character of the internet culture, with Facebook and so on," he said. "On the internet, you think everything is going to be public."
Chomsky also makes some predictions about the kind of technology that might be available in the near future:
"Take a look at drones, and what is developing. You will find new drone technology being used in 10 or 12 years from now. They are looking at [trying to make] tiny drones that can go in your living room, like a fly on the wall." [my emphasis- ed.]
Is Chomsky just being paranoid? (For a possible answer, see this previous article Can't Wait For My Robot Dragonfly!.) And if he is, is he as paranoid as Philip K. Dick?
Dick thought about this possibility too - but he wrote about it in 1964, in his novel Lies, Inc.:
Via The Guardian.
"This is obviously something that should not be done. But it is a little difficult to be too surprised by it," he said. "They [governments and corporations] take whatever is available, and in no time it is being used against us, the population. Governments are not representative. They have their own power, serving segments of the population that are dominant and rich."
Other technologies could also come to be used to spy more effectively on people, he added. "They don't want people to know what they're doing. They want to be able to use [new technology] against their own people.
"I'm Bill Behren... Operator of fly 33408. Now, as you may or may not remember fly 33408 is a real winner. I mean it really gets in there and tackles its job and really gathers up the stuff, the real hot stuff. I've personally been operator for, say, fifty flies... but in all this time, none has really performed true blue like this little fella...
(Read more about Dick's housefly monitor)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/19/2013)
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