← Back to context

Comment by onion2k

3 days ago

I'm not a spy so I don't know, but surely in most scenarios it's a lot easier to just ask someone for some data than it is hack/steal it. 25 years of social media has shown that people really don't care about what they do with their data.

Wasn't there a comment on this phenomenon along the lines "we were so afraid of 1984 but what we really got was Brave New World"?

  • The apathy of the oppressed is a core theme of 1984.

    • Not really? In 1984 you were made an active participant of the oppression. The thought police and 5 minutes hate all required your active, enthusiastic participation.

      Brave New World was apathy: the system was comfortable, Soma was freely available and there was a whole system to give disruptive elements comfortable but non disruptive engagement.

      The protagonist in Brave New World spends a lot of time resenting the system but really he just resents his deformity, wanted what it denied him in society, and had no real higher criticisms of it beyond what he felt he couldn't have.

      1 reply →