Warning, incoming rant...
Picture this, if you will -
It is 100 years after a massive, global, data-gathering and analysis system, linked to a network of sensors, cameras and geo-location systems begin tracking everything.
In the background, with no effort on your part, they record your blood samples, urine samples,hair samples, skin cell samples, what you eat, drink, where you go, what activities you participate in, everything.
Now consider the following short story of a woman we will call Jenna:
Jenna awakens slowly, pleasantly, to the soothing sounds of ocean waves, played through the speakers in her bedroom. The room grows brighter as the LED wall simulates a beautiful sunrise. She yawns and stretches, smiling as she is bathed in the sensory simulation.
Hopping out of bed, she begins the day with her usual routine; water, toothbrush, toilet, and a light workout and invigorating cool shower.
"Good morning Jenna," the voice of her AI personal assistant greets her as she stands in front of the LED wall, now serving as a mirror as she applies the finishing touches to her outfit and makeup.
"I have observed an anomaly in your urine sample this morning. Nothing serious, but I would recommend a blood sample, if you have time."
"Okay," Jenna returns to the bathroom and places her finger against a small receptacle which has extended from the wall, a slight poke and a drop of blood is extracted.
She returns to the LED wall and reviews her schedule for the day, instructing her assistant to reschedule her hair appointment to the day following, to make additional time for a lunch date with a dear friend who is in town for the day.
"I have completed analysis of the blood sample," the assistant reports as Jenna sits down to eat breakfast. "There appears to be a higher than normal level of adenosine, and a reduced level of bromine. Specifically in this region of the country, this combination has shown a high correlation to adrenal-cortical carcinoma in people of your age and genetic profile, at a probability of 65%."
"I have found three strategies which show a high probability of reducing this risk to less than 2%. Would you like to review them?"
"Yes, please." It always seemed a bit silly to Jenna that the assistant asked that question. Who wouldn't want to? She glanced to the small display next to the dining table, as it populated with information"
-
1. Reduce intake of Meats (to lower adenosine intake)
2. Increase grains (to increase bromelain intake)
3. Add a bromelain supplement for 30 days.
Recommendation to follow one ore more of the above alternatives for thirty days and re-assess.
-
"Please adjust my meal plan to accommodate recommendations one and two, and add 'get bromelain' to my todo list." Might was well try them all.
Jenna finishes breakfast, reviews and approves the newly recommended menu and sends off the grocery order, then heads out the door to her first appointment of the day.
-----
How cool would that be?!!
Can you imagine how many problems might be preventable with information that deep and broad? Analyzed and correlated for the many thousands of variables contained therein - far more than any human or group of humans could digest. Can you imagine the potential leap in quality of life?
But, we can't have that.
Why? you ask.
<begin rant>
Because anytime anybody starts collecting data, somebody finds a way to abuse it.
Creeps use gps data from fitness-gadgets and smart-watches and phones to stalk people.
Marketing agencies use all kinds of data to discover your interests, obsessions, guilty pleasures, and the most effective ways to manipulate you into buy garbage you don't really need.
Governments use any and all data to identify potential threats - which could range anywhere from legitimate terrorist to 'political enemy', depending on who is in charge at the time. In some countries now, you can face prison time if you say the wrong things on social media. What constitutes 'wrong things'? Depends entirely on who is interpreting the law at any time.
Sleazy, money-grubbing scammers will use that data to find ways to steal your retirement funds, and your personal savings.
Political idealists/activists will use that data to dox, swat, or otherwise terrorize those they see as enemies to their cause. They will manipulate and misrepresent that data to justify unwarranted and abusive actions on the part of governments to enforce their 'utopian' vision, a the expense of those who don't share their particular views.
We can't have that because a small handful of the population value personal wealth, personal fears, personal power, or a personal vision of the future more than they value their 'neighbor'.
And so, all the decent folk (who I still believe make up the majority), wind up going into "hiding" (The dark forest), to protect ourselves from the minority of predators.
So a hearty "Thank-you" to all the Kochs,Soros,Gates,Musks, and many other well-known, lesser-known, and unknown, political and corporate 'luminaries', groups of deranged lunatics, and individual, self-serving scum-buckets (and by 'thank-you' I mean 'no-thank-you').
You're the reason we can't have nice things.
<end rant>
A few headlines supporting above rant:
[Microsoft is scanning the inside of password-protected zip files for malware | Ars Technica]
[Former cop abused unrevoked system access to extort women (malwarebytes.com)]
[Saudi arabia woman jailed for 11 years for online expression supporting womens-rights]
[Death penalty for hate speech?]
[German woman given harsher sentence than-rapist for defamation]
[UK warns of stalking risks from connected devices]
Some discussions on the "dark forest" concept (focused specifically on the exponential growth of this phenomenon due to generative AI):
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