One of the biggest themes in science fiction has always been paranoia, and the dark implications of new technologies – technologies that initially seem like unalloyed positives but which are found to have set the stage for society to evolve in ways that ultimately makes humans casualties of, or even slaves to, their own best intentions. From George Orwell to Ray Bradbury to Philip K. Dick, science fiction’s greatest minds have often contemplated a world where people are constantly being watched, a development which often comes about so imperceptibly cloaked in the positive connotations of “progress” that by the time the residents of these writers’ fictional worlds take stock of the position they are in, it’s too late to reverse the course.
One pertinent real world example of technology’s gift and curse has been the proliferation of mobile phones and widespread wireless data networks. On the one hand, in the space of fewer than twenty years we’ve seen cellular phones and mobile devices go from expensive novelties capable of only an unreliable imitation of “real” phones, to being ubiquitous, relatively inexpensive and mass produced items in every pocket and every purse, capable of accessing the entirety of uploaded human data via the internet, use the global position system, and much more. It sounds like a great thing, and in many ways it is – but what about the recent revelation that the US government has been helping itself to the data flowing into and out of its citizens’ phones for years on end, and has no intention of asking their permission, or stopping?
But the truly scary implications of new technology may actually be in the recent (and seemingly innocuous) news that Google purchased the home automation and smart device company Nest. Home automation is a buzzword that essentially means the ability to control your home’s thermostat, locks, kitchen appliances, home security system, and whatever else you can think of, wirelessly, and often through a mobile phone or tablet computer. Major companies like consumer electronics giant Samsung and home security mainstays ADT introduced a bevy of new home automation systems at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, and generally much of the media coverage has focused on the exciting potential for greater energy efficiency and the convenience of having a refrigerator that detects low levels of some food item and reminds you to pick it up on your way home.
So what’s the catch here? The most glaring problem is just how easy it is to hack into things like smartphones and tablets and the the wireless networks they utilize. As Trend Labs reported in a recent post called “The Dark Side of Home Automation,” the security options for most wireless networks and devices that use them are pretty limited in their configuration, making them easy targets for hackers to exploit. Imagine a world where a hacker need only access your cellphone credentials to deactivate your security system and gain access to your entire house.
As Google gets onboard the home automation train, the concerns become less about losing control of your home security or other systems and more about losing all control of your privacy as an individual. Google has a long track record of suspicious usage of its users personal information, and its beyond dispute that the search giant routinely sells information to advertisers, though it’s claimed there is no identifying of individuals involved. That said, it’s perfectly clear that Google could identify you to a third party if it wished to, and the evidence released by Edward Snowden shows that Google, Facebook and others comply with US government requests to provide information about individuals and their search queries and networks.
When you look at how Google ever became big enough to go around buying companies like Nest at whim in the first place, it has to be acknowledged that the core reason for their success has always been that Google is providing people with products and services that they love, and quickly integrate into their lives to the point where doing things the “old” way seems all
but impossible. In a free market, companies live or die by offering the best solutions, and as it has grown ever and ever larger, economies of scale have made it ever easier for consumers to get the services they want from Google at a cheaper price than from other similar companies (often free, in the case of their popular Gmail, Drive and other apps), as well as made it harder and harder for users to ever leave the fold. If another competing email company came along, would a user of Gmail be tempted to switch services if it meant leaving behind their entire network of contacts that already used Gmail, or attempting to convince all those people to come with them? That seems unlikely, and also explains how Facebook’s social gravity well eventually swallowed most competing social networks and basically ensured its own dominance for a long time to come – who wants to go somewhere else, where none of your friends are?
The privacy concerns that the rise of Facebook already brought into the conversation can only be magnified by the news that Google is no longer content to merely see, hear and distribute all of our personal data as it sees fit, but now wants to get inside our homes and possibly watch us going about our lives away from the computer screen as well. It won’t be long before the venerable old search engine is giving us weight loss advice when it sees what we’re cooking, or lecturing us about showering for too long or to turn out the lights when we leave the room – and these will be great things, some will say! Who wouldn’t want help being more healthy and energy efficient, helping the planet, society and ourselves all at once?
The telescreens in every dwelling that Orwell depicts in 1984 is one of the most well-known examples of the dystopian future that could result from being “too” connected, and Google’s power to process data, when connected to a government with a monopoly on force, makes it easy to get a little paranoid about what we might be getting ourselves into. It’s all the more scary when people seem less and less concerned with privacy at all, and often outright embrace the ability to broadcast every detail of their lives via outlets like Facebook.
Let’s just hope that the undeniably good things that Google and similar companies can do for humanity will not one day be eclipsed by a vision like the one Ray Bradbury set forth in his 1950 short story August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains, in which a fully automated house goes about its business, gently speaking reminders of important dates and meetings for the inhabitants, and preparing them meals with loving care. As the story draws to a close, however, we realize that the inhabitants no longer exist except as shadows burned onto the walls by the nuclear explosions that seem to have depopulated the story’s world. The point is clear, and still the most important point that science fiction has made and will continue to make: all the helpful technology in the world can’t save us from our own worst inclinations, so let’s be careful how we use it.