If we are exhorted into being perfect, don’t we cease to be human?

The Circle, written by Dave Eggers in 2013 is another dystopian fiction, wherein a company named the “Circle” uses technological innovation to create what it claims is a more efficient and accountable society by advocating the use of vast number of surveillance cameras to monitor and later analyze behavior using sophisticated AI.

By cultivating surveillance cameras everywhere, biological functions are monitored wirelessly, and the Circle adds more and more to its network, claiming to increase transparency in government, business, and even personal lives.

Rolling out such invasive technology, impounding the natural lives of all and justifying such blatant violations of privacy rights in the name of social welfare. Close and frightening parallels can be drawn between some of the themes in this book and the present day sociopolitical world of Google, Wikileaks, big data, and personalized advertisement.

It was at the end of reading this book that I asked myself, If we are exhorted into being perfect, don’t we cease to be our natural human selves? As “Ty”, a character from the book said, “everyone will be tracked, cradle to grave, with no possibility of escape. We’re closing the circle around everyone—it’s a totalitarian nightmare.”

It was an interesting read and I suggest you all to read it as well 🙂

References:

Eggers, D. The Circle (2013)