A world where people live under total surveillance and the sky is blocked out by a million low earth orbit satellites ranks pretty damn high on the dystopian nightmare scale.
"Or maybe we’ll just have to get used to our every action being monitored and logged by AI software—at least when we’re out in public. "
Personally, I think the public is just going to get used to it. This is because well-meaning parents pushed for video cameras in schools to 'keep children safe'. As a result, kids are grew up knowing that they are under surveillance all the time (or at least often) and really don't care, since it is normal. While *I* may think ubiquitous cameras are a bad idea, the next generation of voters will likely shrug.
"every action being monitored and logged by AI software—at least when we’re out in public. "
Remember even when you not in public--say, when you're in your house, the dystopian cameras in the sky will monitor your house 24/7. They will see when your car leaves and when it returns, and any other cars in the family, and guests too! Even without being able to see the license plates from above, it will coordinate with cameras at street level to learn license plates. It will use AI to fill in the blanks on which cars are owned by which people. These "outside cameras" will produce a type of "meta data." Even though they won't be privy to conversations inside the houses and cars, it will know when you leave for work and when you return. It will figure out your social circle from which cars visit you, and for how long. Over the years it will see how long you keep the cars, and whether they need to be towed. From this it will infer whether you are having financial problems, especially if you no longer leave and return from work on the previous schedule.
I believe Neal Stephenson, in the last book of his I read, had a character who made their fortune by inventing a device that blocked cameras from taking an image of the wearer's face.
I would be curious on how this will work when applied to surveillance images where the individuals are heavily hooded and / or masked.
Seems to me the bad guys always go out of their way to avoid surveillance.
What we need is a LOT more surveillance… of government workers. Weekly downloads of their work phone chats and times they talked with who. How much time they waste on lousy, or great ( like here) infotainment. Written justification for decisions, as well as flattening orgs since the middle mgr report generation can be done by AI (or soon will).
Every proposal for more data should start with govt employees.
A world where people live under total surveillance and the sky is blocked out by a million low earth orbit satellites ranks pretty damn high on the dystopian nightmare scale.
"Or maybe we’ll just have to get used to our every action being monitored and logged by AI software—at least when we’re out in public. "
Personally, I think the public is just going to get used to it. This is because well-meaning parents pushed for video cameras in schools to 'keep children safe'. As a result, kids are grew up knowing that they are under surveillance all the time (or at least often) and really don't care, since it is normal. While *I* may think ubiquitous cameras are a bad idea, the next generation of voters will likely shrug.
"every action being monitored and logged by AI software—at least when we’re out in public. "
Remember even when you not in public--say, when you're in your house, the dystopian cameras in the sky will monitor your house 24/7. They will see when your car leaves and when it returns, and any other cars in the family, and guests too! Even without being able to see the license plates from above, it will coordinate with cameras at street level to learn license plates. It will use AI to fill in the blanks on which cars are owned by which people. These "outside cameras" will produce a type of "meta data." Even though they won't be privy to conversations inside the houses and cars, it will know when you leave for work and when you return. It will figure out your social circle from which cars visit you, and for how long. Over the years it will see how long you keep the cars, and whether they need to be towed. From this it will infer whether you are having financial problems, especially if you no longer leave and return from work on the previous schedule.
Remember what Edward Snowden said his worst fear was?
This turned out to be pretty prescient - not one but two AI companies released the first versions of their always-on recording devices this week.
Rewind AI (audio only for now) and Humane AI: https://www.ignorance.ai/i/137729155/when-the-chips-are-down
Cool!
"I’m not going to make any specific predictions about how any of this might play out, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be important"
------
I agree. How about investment tips? Companies, mutual funds, etc. related to AI?
I believe Neal Stephenson, in the last book of his I read, had a character who made their fortune by inventing a device that blocked cameras from taking an image of the wearer's face.
I would be curious on how this will work when applied to surveillance images where the individuals are heavily hooded and / or masked.
Seems to me the bad guys always go out of their way to avoid surveillance.
Currently exists already. See:
https://petapixel.com/2023/03/01/hacker-hoodie-blinds-surveillance-cameras-with-infrared-light/
What we need is a LOT more surveillance… of government workers. Weekly downloads of their work phone chats and times they talked with who. How much time they waste on lousy, or great ( like here) infotainment. Written justification for decisions, as well as flattening orgs since the middle mgr report generation can be done by AI (or soon will).
Every proposal for more data should start with govt employees.
But likely won’t.
I’d be equally if not more inclined to demand the same transparency from tech companies and to whom they sell our data!