GPS: They’re Watching…On Tape Delay
Trials recently conducted by the Australian government show that, as the technology now stands, installing GPS devices on convicted sex offenders simply will not work. In the process of testing three different electronic devices, officials found that the tracking units could not convey location in sufficiently “real” time. Subjects’ movements could only be tracked retrospectively. The units could thus not be used for crime prevention, which is assuredly the intention of any mandatory GPS criminal tracking program. Check out the story here.
In theory, this all sounds like a great idea, but part of me hopes that programs like this will never get off the ground. The more we become used to the idea of mandatory tracking devices, the more likely it is that they will end up becoming a major part of everyday life–even for non-criminals and non-socially-threatening people. A generation of desensitization to the whole idea and the next thing you know, GPS chips will be as factory-standard in babies as air conditioners are in cars.
Think about it: “You’ll always know where your little one is.” But so will the dreaded, amorphus “They,” which is a paranoid manifestation that usually represents the fear of not being in control of one’s life but can also more sanely represent the natural fear of not being able to do anything that is purely private. It is certainly possible that the sensation of “always being watched” and “never being alone” could enter into the normal psyche. When a piece of technology becomes a major part of our everyday lives it is a short time before we are swamped with feelings that are genuinely new. People were literally different prior to television, cars, and the internet. “Being on T.V.” is a dream that simply did not exist a hundred years ago. We are worried, for example, when a loved one doesn’t immediately return or answer a cell phone call. But what did we feel like when, just a few years ago, it was not possible to instantly reach people? This same sort of worry was simply not present in non-psychotic people. It wasn’t real; it didn’t exist.
If the feeling of not having any privacy is able to permeate the human consciousness in a similar fashion, all genuine individuality may die. We may no longer be able to think ourselves AT ALL outside of our identities as members of a collective. And if this is this case, then all that collective’s prejudices, old ideas, habits, tastes, etc. will have a level of tyrannical control over individuals that will surpass even the most powerful instance of mob mentality that the world has ever seen.
This could (i.e. probably is), of course, be straight-up unfounded paranoia. But it’s damn interesting.
Any thoughts?
