A Hollow Man Reflects On 1984 and Our Brave New World

In the end, we gave up without a fight, although I certainly thought there should have been at least some shouting and perhaps a bit of minor bloodshed. Instead we quietly acquiesced, meekly retreating with our pocketbook in better shape, even if our souls took a fatal thrashing. Even my acidic wit failed me, delivering a single half-hearted glancing blow that the whole thing “…seemed a bit 1984-ish.” “Well, it’s just a little thing,” the agent countered, “and these things are already everywhere. You know, our cars used to have a computer in it. Now they are computers on wheels.” It was a line no doubt recited verbatim from his copy of the preparatory study guide provided by his own corporate overlords entitled “How to handle moral objections”. It still didn’t make me feel any better. I was selling out and deep down inside it hurt. Besides, I have a much greater respect for cars than to consider them computers on wheels. Also, I’ve never seen a computer go 100 mph (even when tossed out of a window).

The source of my moral outrage and anguish is a tiny little device that I will attach to the data port in my automobile. It will then be monitored via a satellite link-up by my insurance provider to see if I exceed the speed limit by a significant amount, or take corners too fast, or brake too quickly. Rational reflection on my part concedes that I really shouldn’t care. My days of going double the posted speed limit are far behind me (but if you put me behind the wheel of a new Porsche or a Mercedes S63 on the German autobahn, all bets are off). I’m almost positive the little econobox I drive couldn’t do so even if I wanted it to (at least at freeway speeds). I have a short commute to work, mostly down the main street in the small city where I live, and I pass the police station at the town square along the way. I plan my time sensibly and drive without significant haste. I’m fairly certain the folks who monitor such things for the insurance company will be bored senseless by my behavior behind the wheel. The end result of this whole thing that is currently causing me to reach for my antacids is that we will save a significant amount of money from our always escalating insurance bill. It’s always about money, isn’t it?

Now I have a vivid imagination, which I allow to wander freely. Suppose that when the yuletide holidays roll around again that I find myself seated at the bar of our local Quaker Steak and Lube, quaffing a pint or two of Great Lakes Christmas Ale in fellowship with my friends. If my monitored automobile sits for too long in the parking lot, will my insurance babysitters inform the local constabulary that I may be contemplating driving while tipsy? Or perhaps they might pass the information along to their health insurance division and warn them that I may be inside consuming one of those greasy stacks of onion rings that is served on a repurposed car antenna, risking clogged arteries, heart disease, or stroke.

You see, that’s the first problem with innocuous little devices that we allow to intrude into our lives for one simple purpose, like saving us money. I know that the reason the insurance company wants to attach it to my car isn’t really to save me money. The true purpose is to save them money. Because it’s always about money, isn’t it? The second problem is that such innocuous little devices, once attached, may take on other roles that we weren’t informed about, or may not approve of. Like monitoring my consumption of onion rings (which really isn’t even an issue, but that doesn’t mean it can’t piss me off) or just knowing where I go, or how long I stay.

So what should we do about innocuous little devices in our lives? The first thing I’m going to do is run up to the library in my as yet unmonitored vehicle and pick up a copy of George Orwell’s 1984 to reread. I kind of wonder if Orwell would be saying “I-told-you-so” about the way things are these days, or would he be saying “WTF!!! You let it happen?” Keep yourself informed, and if something is bothering you, speak up. Keep reading, expand your mind, and seek knowledge. We are letting the “smart devices” in our lives make us dumber, and the really smart people are laughing at us the whole time. And by the way, if the Thought Police are listening in, go screw yourselves.

 This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    Not with a bang but a whimper.

From “The Hollow Men” by T S Eliot