Trust is hard won, but easily lost forever. Why are global tech and consumer companies trying so hard to win our favour and approval? It gives them licence to spy on us with our blessing.
Take Amazon, for instance. Their all-pervading presence, via listening stations they call Alexa, just got a little bit creepier. Not only do they charge you an exorbitant fee for a speaker with voice recognition control, but they programme it to listen to you cough, so that it can automatically charge you for the cold remedies it ordered on your behalf.
Applications to ‘Find My Child’ can now be used to listen in on real life conversations, whether the phone is in use or not. Google can take control of the camera on your mobile phone the moment that you open up its mapping tool. DNA Ancestry customers, who paid to have their biological identity placed on an international database, are now routinely screened in search of murder suspects. Those responsible for security footage at hospitals, are considering using software to identify sufferers of depression as they visit sick relatives. D’oh! Of course they will be depressed; their friends or family are in hospital. I digress.
The truth is that we are always presented with, and often charged for, an insignificant benefit to these tech progressions, without being informed of the real and sinister reason for its development. In most cases, it is really designed for greater control or wealth. The more they digitalise health, the less human interaction each patient receives, leading to greater isolation and unhappiness. The larger the DNA database gets, the likelihood of hacking increases. How long will it be before Joe Bloggs is accused and incarcerated for a murder that he could not have possibly committed, all without human intervention?
We are handing our entire lives over to AI. Halloween or not, that gives me the chills. Where will this end; in a daily thumb prick blood test to determine who dropped litter in the park, before the punishment of automated house arrest locks you inside your own home? Fines deducted from bank accounts without authorisation? Drugs to neuter antisocial behaviour mixed into dispensed food pellets like battery hens?
We are turning ourselves into functional drones. Who will stand up and fight against this Orwellian future? We need Sarah Connor to blast Skynet, before it is too late.
Sam Nash is an author of conspiracy thrillers. The Aurora Conspiracies Series is available now. Book One: http://mybook.to/AuroraMandate You can find her at https://www.samnash.org or on Twitter @samnashauthor or Facebook.com/samnash.author.