This is just a consequence of an industrialized society. You cannot go backwards.
Imagine we all had cameras attached to us streaming every moment of our lives to a server 24/7. You'd have suddenly eliminated nearly all crime outside those of passion, because the chances of being caught would be essentially 100%. Mandate everybody wear full-on biohazard suits outdoors anytime you're in public then you would have effectively eliminated any sort of spread of communicable disease.
These would be amazing achievements, far greater than many of the undesirable solutions might even imagine achieving. Yet paradoxically these actions would also make life far less worth living. Put more succinctly, how do you know we aren't currently going backwards?
This sounds absolutely worth the "cost." If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear; for this reason I fully embrace total surveillance, online and offline, of all citizens, 24/7.
> If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear
What if you're in a country/locale that, for example, makes same sex relationships illegal? You do have to hide it now, and so you do have to fear. Who gets to determine what has to be hidden?
That only works in a fascist or authoritarian society. People in social democratic nations have differing opinions on what is right or wrong.
This is assuming that's how it would shake out (but I don't think it really is):
Not to me. I'd rather live free in a world where crime exists than constantly watched in a world where it doesn't.
First we discover, then we research, then we implement, then we assess the implementation.
Sometimes the assessment shows us that the implementation was incorrect. Sometimes the assessment shows us that the original discovery or research was incorrect. Sometimes the assessment shows us unintended consequences for our actions and implementations.
Ever see a city that closes down roadways to vehicular traffic, so that bicycles and foot traffic are more prevalent there?
That's moving backwards.