If You’re Not Paranoid, You’re Crazy

As government agencies and tech companies develop more and more intrusive means of watching and influencing people, how can we live free lives?

Source Atlantic Monthly

This article authored by Walter Kirn touches on a subject that concerns many of us I think. Privacy is fading into the past at an ever accelerating rate. This article is an entertaining read but tells the tale of just how deeply connected government and industry are today. When it comes to spying on all of us who are connected to technologies even remotely we have never seen capabilities like exist today. I wonder if there is any chance for a push back for a return of some privacy?

a reply to: machineintelligence

Not until there's one big CME that takes out all the satellites.

Why not the best of both worlds?

A dash of craze, a spice of paranoia added to my favorite dish of Twilight Zone salad served nightly after hours.

a reply to: machineintelligence

That which you share with others is not private by definition. No one is spying on us when we are willingly putting this information out there.

originally posted by: LesMisanthrope
a reply to: machineintelligence

That which you share with others is not private by definition. No one is spying on us when we are willingly putting this information out there.

So you waltz into Walmart and buy a box of .22 bullets to use on some tin cans and pull out your credit card for the payment. Where do you think that data goes, "Poof" into thin air never to be know by man or machine?

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

I'm guessing here but did you read the article before you posted your reply? Some of the things the author mentions are not things you put out there consciously at the very least.

a reply to: machineintelligence

Let me ask you something. Do you feel less free in your daily experiences due to tech in the 21st century. If so, why?

I feel a hell of a lot more free, personally.

Sure, there's data-mining and governments are deep storing information in case red-flags pop up, but I mean really, the tech has given us a hell of a lot more options than closing up routes best I can tell. There's some petty annoyances, but that's about it so far.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

BS. All electronics listen to us now. They listen to our physical conversations. Much more than only digital.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

It is true for those who prefer to communicate profile to profile over face to face. Basically the benefits of tech are the world is now much more fake. Everybody has an online persona of who they WISH they really were. JMO.

a reply to: lightedhype

Nah it's so much more than that. This site is the closest to social media I get, and truth be told I do experiment with new splashes of persona here, but they spill out into everday life if mature to a success.

I have access to so much more information, objective and subjective than in my childhood. I can access media, journals, articles, news outlets, software applications, order tickets, plan travel arrangements, have a handy flashlight anytime, gps my rides, freaking uber it around, rock and drone through the neighborhood, 100 gigs on my pendrive in the pocket, downloads of gigs within minutes... c'mon man, it's so much better than 1999.

I can keep in touch with family around the world for free with face to face videoconferencing. The decentralization is so game-changing on a global scale, I think it's the ace in the people's hand being played throughout this century, certain to free us all of the back asswards beliefs concrete and abstract walls attempt to divide us from each other. Ain't no stopping the signal, mal!

a reply to: machineintelligence

Personally I don't care if someone records and monitors everything I do. I imagine if I am that important either I must be doing something right, or they are more afraid of me then I would ever be of them.

However, I also believe it's illegal to infringe on my privacy and those guilty should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Privacy is a rather recent mental construct in our society.

For the longest time we all lived together as families in small huts or caves. Privacy didn't exist except in one's mind. As society advanced and we formed towns and villages, everyone still knew everyone else's business.

It wasn't until the industrial revolution and people had more free time and resources to spend that people began to indulge themselves in their hobbies and things that interested them -- things that they may be embarrassed others know about.

As the industrialization of our society grew, so did our anti-communal nature. We still withdraw into ourselves to gratify our egos, and I think we subconsciously feel guilty for doing so...so we hide it, or want to hide it. This is where this notion of "privacy" comes from.

We've never really had privacy except in our thoughts...we simply created the illusion of it to sooth the guilt of pleasuring our ego.

a reply to: machineintelligence

Mental discipline =/= craziness. Some of us know how to passively observe without becoming emotionally invested.

Never thought about the idea that being paranoid is in fact crazy ?

Unless you're really are a target from some agency, being paranoid is not only a wate of time, it causes you to change the way you live and act without any reasons. Crazy huh.... And yo will never accept that cause people that are crazy usually don't know they are, as it is their reality and you can;t fake reality, dispite other peoples realities that is different from yours.

a reply to: Sinter Klaas

Seriously? Your post indicates pretty clearly that you likely did not read the article that is the subject of the OP. I will break it down for those who just can't take 10-15 minutes to slowly read the article.

Our electronics listen to us, record our every curiosity, movement, and notion. This is being fed to machines that analyze, scrutinize, and profile us for marketing, and corporate, and government surveillance. We accept this reality and let it follow through to its obvious conclusion at our own peril I think. So few understand science and technology when our world depends on it I find it astonishing we have gotten this far without annihilating ourselves.

a reply to: machineintelligence

So what is this obvious conclusion your paranoid mind is assuming will unfold? I'm curious.

a degree of paranoia or skepticism does not infer paranoid schizophrenia or mental illness/delusion.

a degree of paranoia is healthy. trusting everything you hear is dangerous, a smart individual always filters out the truth from the lie. it's a defense mechanism to avoid being attacked/deceived. a degree of paranoia is healthy,

those that are complacent are the real crazy ones. thinking that everything is rosy & lovely will get you in trouble way faster than a person with a healthy dose of skepticism. that's why i just don't understand these sheeple that blindly surrender all their critical thinking for a trade off of perceived comfort and safety. they literally erect brick walls to avoid being exposed to things that make them uncomfortable. changing your world view is difficult, it shatters everything you've ever thought you knew. human beings make decisions based on their egos and not rational thinking.

the unwavering childlike faith the people instill in our leaders, believing they are somehow superior to us and therefore are not subjected to criticism that others are. they put all their faith in them to make the right decisions and believe they will simply because they want to believe it.

enlightenment has nothing to do with being more intelligent and has everything to do with being able to discern fact fro m ficition. it's a process of tearing down all you thought to be true and rebuilding it from the ground up. i guess some people just cannot handle the discomfort this causes and prefer to hide in their coccoon of perceived safety, because having to actually consider whether our authority figures are morally bankrupt is scary to them (and with good reason)

i'm aware we are all spied on. sometimes when im in front of the tv (i heard that they can send a signal back, showing what everybody is doing in their lounge room, conversations etc) i actually say hey cia, you enjoying the show mate? even if that isn't true i bet it drives them mad hearing it. haah.

our rights are slowly chipping away... a tiny one thousandth of a milimetre every time... til it's too late coz people are so asleep or engrossed in the minutes of every day living and have placed faith in those that lead them to do the right thing that they blindly believe that what theyre passing through congress must be beneficial. not ever taking the time to disseminate the subtle double meanings of the laws, nor even reading them... this is why everything has gone down the drain.

the surveillance state makes me angry and it makes me even angrier that 99%of the population seems not to care, like 'it's catching terrorists! if you're against that you're a terrorist' type of reasoning. oh how they will regret this one day soon when the gestapo V.02 arrives in town. it's a clear violation of the constitutional privacy edict yet people are still deluded enough to believe that the gov respects the constitiution. they believe war on americans cant happen because of the constitution neglecting the fact that they have already violated such edicts. what's to say the rest are safe? they aren't.

god people are naive.

a reply to: Redlisted

I'm not naive, but you're not critically thinking if you're bothering to waste energies blabbing off to the CIA that isn't monitoring you with human resources.

Relax, you'll live longer. Just cause some of us have thought this through more than others and calmed down doesn't mean we're naive sheeple.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

it's just a joke man. i'll be talking about gov spying with my husband and yell out WASSUP CIA! it's a joke to amuse myself. i'm not trying to hold conversations with them. they probably couldn't give two #s. it's amusing however.

there's nothing wrong with calming down over it, i mean realistically they are not monitoring everybody's every move and conversation. that would be impossible.

but no matter how you look at it, it's an invasion of privacy to be logging all calls and internet data. it violates the constitution. if they're doing that and are able to legally do so, how long before even worse stuff starts happening?

little by little. piece by piece. day by day. our rights are being eroded. if that doesn't concern people, regardless of the NSA spying debacle, it should. it's a symptom of a greater problem.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

I am not talking about internet based open source intelligence (OSINT) here but device integrated intelligence sent to companies and governments that provide real time data of everyone's personal information. Your pulse rate when watching a commercial, your eye focus point on the screen when watching a video, your heated words when the microphone in your smart phone logs your argument with your spouse or children.

These things sound rather innocuous but in the near future you could be turned down for a job because of a conversation overheard by your smart devices telling corporate that you like a competitor's brand. CPS might be notified of your heated words and your kids taken. Your choices might be controlled because you are suggested entertainment based solely on your previous interests. Of course watch lists can have multiple meanings. Minority report kind of stuff is what is coming including pre-crime.