Ditch the enemy in your pocket
I firmly believe that ‘smart technologies’ - and by this I mean not just phones, but anything with the word ‘smart’ in its description - are being pushed not for our benefit, but because they are all part of the Big Brother society that we are being herded towards.
By HARRY HOPKINS
Smartphones are a stepping stone to humanity’s slavery.
ALL of us are well aware of the central role that personal mobile devices now play in people’s lives.
Haven’t we all looked in wonder at the folk walking along the street gazing at the screen in their hand, completely oblivious as to what is going on around them? Aside from the physical danger that this disconnection with reality causes, it is a cast-iron indication that the person concerned has surrendered their inner life to something that has captured their attention in the virtual world.
It is as if a spell has been cast, leading that person from one distraction to another. Can this be a good thing? Can the random capture of a person’s thought processes ever be healthy?
How many times have you seen people on public transport, waiting at bus stops, sitting together in groups in the pub, café, or restaurant with their eyes fixed down to their screen? Groups of people who come together supposedly for friendship and the joys of intimate conversation retreating into the virtual world contained in their personal tracking gadget.
There can be no doubt about it, Silicon Valley engineers have designed, and are constantly redesigning, applications that are as addictive as gambling, alcohol and drugs. When something cannot be done without, and the loss of which is compared to a bereavement, as the loss of a smartphone is to many people today, it is an addiction.
All of this is intentional of course. If there were those who would seek to control every one of us and, indeed, every aspect of our individual lives, how would they go about it?
They would seek to make us totally dependent on their highly developed technology, so that any kind of acceptable and worthwhile life would be impossible without it. Are these this the ravings of a modern-day Luddite? Well, I love technology: I have a computer and an iPad, but I have an old-fashioned mobile phone, the kind whereby you talk to people and send the occasional text.
I use technology as a tool when it suits me. I’m like the person who drinks occasionally, but knows that overindulgence might lead me down the slippery slope to hell. I firmly believe that ‘smart technologies’ - and by this I mean not just phones but anything with the word ‘smart’ in its description - are being pushed not for our benefit, but because they are all part of the Big Brother society that we are being herded towards. It is a vision of a totalitarian state that is a danger to us all.
Consider this:
The loss of bank branches nationwide has been going on for years now and is gathering pace. The push for ‘apps’ to pay for everything rather than use cash is all around us.
Supermarkets are champing at the bit to accept card/phone app payments only. Public transport, public car parks and public conveniences are moving to app payments only. And right now some shops will not accept cash at all (boycott those immediately).
What are the repercussions of this rush to a technological, digitalised world whereby we are what we have on our smartphone? Life is becoming increasingly difficult for millions of people who cannot or will not take on board the technological revolution that is gathering pace.
Many older people have no idea about technology. They cannot access banks because they are not there. They cannot contact their banks because of the computerised systems replacing human beings. ‘You are number 27 in the queue’ is enough to dishearten and depress many people who live alone and are with minimum support. In short, there are millions of people who are excluded from society because they are not up to speed with technology, and this will only get worse.
But where is this headed? I’m afraid that those who pay by the swish of a phone at a checkout, or the admission to a loo by that same seamless motion, are in for a huge shock.
Rather than a utopian dream of having life simplified by technology, we are facing the exact opposite: a complete and total loss of freedom. A life where your every living moment is monitored and controlled by the phone in your pocket.
Your phone knows where you are; it knows where you are going; they will know how much digital money you have and what you spend it on; when and where you access medical care (not in person of course - the digital doctor will see you now); where and when you holiday; if and when you can work. And much, much more.
And once your ‘cash’ is just an online number completely outside your control, you will be totally and utterly dependent on the state to allow you to function at all. When this situation manifests itself, you will be owned, and subject to any qualifying conditions which the authorities impose on you in order to live. It is already this way now for millions of people in China.
So what can you do about this? How can you say: “Enough is enough, I want a better world for my children and grandchildren”?
A difficult question. But you can make a major start right now. You can ditch ‘the enemy in your pocket’ and refuse to use a smartphone. Because if it is allowed to completely control our lives, then it becomes the self-inflicted instrument of our own incarceration.
When that happens, life as we once knew it will be but a distant memory.