The essence of democracy is equality/cooperation, of economics inequality/competition, its either or not both and.

 

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by KATE EPSTEIN, 17 July 2013

 

The Snowden leaks and ensuing debates about our government, big data, and privacy have led to more Orwell allusions than I've heard in all of my

(admittedly post-1984) life. It's hard not to compare the constant surveillance of twenty-first-century America to the ubiquitous presence of Big Brother in

the prescient 1949 novel. And that's not to mention the doublethink involved in our never-ending war with an ever-shifting enemy to keep the homeland

safe (war is peace), our ballooning prison population, up 790% since 1980

(freedom is slavery), and the current administration's brutal crackdown on truth-tellers and public education (ignorance is strength).

 

But big data has another side, better predicted by Aldous Huxley's very

different 1932 dystopia Brave New World. In that version of the future, consumer

desire, and not thought-policing, keeps the citizens of the World State in line in a year defined not by A.D. but by A.F., or "After Ford." Sex-hormone chewing gum, the ecstasy-inducing drug soma ("one cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments,") and recreational sex are all encouraged, as is attending the popular "feelies," which combine sight, smell, and touch to create the ultimate entertainment experience.

 

 

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