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justAnotherNET·

1984 imagined a horrific world where the government forced you to install listening devices in your home.

Meanwhile in 2020 we purchase them ourselves because we don’t want to flip light switches.

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Brave New World is probably a better dystopian comparison than 1984.

More "oppression-by-comfort" than "boot-on-face-forever".

Every time Orwell's 1984 is mentioned on the Internet it gets this exact followup comment about Brave New World. Not saying it's wrong, but this is just some kind of law of internet discussions.

IMO, that's because the world is headed toward a techno-dystopia that lies somewhere between 1984 and Brave New World.

ghostcluster's law.

Postman's Law.

Oppression by comfort comes first, oppression by boot comes second after you decide the comfort isnt worth it.

It's much cheaper that way. If most fall in line in exchange for comfort, you don't need to pay for nearly as many boots on faces.

Until you have robot armies you don’t need to pay, period.

I've heard it put this way: the dystopia we're building is Brave New World unless you truly get in the way, in which case it rapidly becomes 1984.

That's why the message from Fahrenheit 451 was more apt to 2020: It's not the government that creates a dystopian future, it's us.

The government at least ostensibly needs a warrant to access your communications to a smart device. Mandatory government surveillance and opt-in convenience products are not on the same plane.

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