Have I mentioned that I love Transmetropolitan? 'Cause if I haven't, I need to say that I love Transmetropolitan.
In any event, there is a class of citizens that is frequently seen in this gripping story, known as The Listeners. What does a Listener do? Simply. They put on their surveillance vests and walk around The City, watching... listening. Letting their suits get a live feed from the people and things going around the world and dumping it right into the media feed. This is awesome. A brilliant idea... if done correctly. And once again, we are one step closer to that future, thanks to these little numbers. Screw covert ops, get these things on field reporters, junior columnists, high school students, anyone who'll take one. Get them OUT there, seeing, hearing, feeding. I wonder how the world would cope with an available network that just shows you the REAL real life every second, of everyday.
Microphone and camera. And GPS. It's like Christmas. Imagine. It's 2 am in the morning. Your falling low on your Mountain Dew fuel and you're getting ready to actually sleep. Suddenly, you want to know exactly what is happening in Tunisia right now. You go to The Listener's web site, put in the coordinates you want, and *POP*, up jumps a list of 13 Listeners in Tunisia. You decide you want to see what akz1-255 is up to. You click. Instant, streaming video and sound of the live streets. If you think you might also find this intriguing and would like to see this possibility become real, contact me. I'll let you know what I've found.
In other, unrelated news, I just found the confirmation of a conversation I had a few months back. A few years ago, we got all excited in the car industry over alternative fuel sources. Hoorah, suddenly an option to not have to rely on crude oil and the Oil Companies. However, and interesting point was brought up to me. These fuels are really new. We don't know much about them. Sure the vehicle industry is accepting them so quickly. Just picture, 10 years from now they release a study that says ethanol fumes kill migratory birds, or something like that. Suddenly, the oil and car companies are coming back saying "Look at that! Just look how great gas and oil are! We MUST go back to the old ways. They were already so environmentally friendly!" Well, it's no eulogy to Woodstock, but lo and behold...
Hmmm. Didn't see that one coming, now did we?
Next we'll be told that Electric cars are the cause to Global warming and hunger.
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2 comments:
Do want! Do, do, do!
Also, every fuel we use is going to have a downside. Even water. Know what the most powerful greenhouse gas is?
... It might just be me but the 'Listeners' concept is absolutely, completely and utterly terrifying.
I might be crazy in my obsessive need for privacy - physical and emotional - but for as 'cool' as the idea of a constant feed from people wandering the streets... I can only see how it might be bad for people.
Yeah, Tunisa might have some awesome feeds. But, hell, those are accessible by innumerable governments or wack-jobs out to hear what people say when they don't think anyone is listening.
I'd worry about unpopular opinions being like painting a big red target on your chest. All because of listeners. But then, I might be slightly paranoid.
The amazing volume of information and knowledge accessible by people wandering the streets with computers strapped their their chests... it's fantastic and wondrous. And abusable. Oh so abusable.
Of course, you could argue that the technology is already present and - as such - that we've already reached the point where our entertainment from snippets of other people's lives isn't a security issue because it's already so prevalent.
If we're already halfway to 1984... go for it. The, well, 'good' will outweigh the harm then, right?
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