Omniscience is a dual edged sword- On one hand, one has the power to prevent and save lives before disaster even strikes. On the other, it can be abused, to create unpredictable, unknown evils out of the ether.
Surveillance is man's way of trying to play God. It claims to keep order by maintaining a watchful eye on the people. When people act suspicious, the system attacks, in order to prevent a possible crime.
I'm not trying to explain how surveillance can be corrupt when abused, because that's been done a myriad of times. What I'm trying to explain is the inherent flaw in surveillance: Judgement.
Think back to what I said. A "possible" crime. A crime that may or may not have been intended. Perhaps the pressure cooker was not a bomb, but rather just an ordinary container containing curry. Who gets to decide whether or not that situation is just a cooking mistake or an act of terrorism?
We leave it to the hands of humans, who have inherent biases and individualized perspectives on seeing the world. Obviously, this can lead to problems.
As shown here, in my favorite anime (Psycho Pass), massive surveillance, or omniscience, in the hands of a subjective few is dangerous [GRAPHIC]
Some background: The premise of this anime is that people are assigned values called a "Crime Coefficient" that goes down when they are in a state of wellness/relaxation and goes up when they are thinking criminal thoughts/are stressed. When that number gets too high, the omniscient system named "Sibyl" automatically sends the police to either arrest or execute people, depending on how high the number is. The most important part to note is that Sibyl does not pay attention to context whatsoever. Just like humans at times.
In the clip, we see that people are escaping a locked market, making them feel quite panicked. Their crime coefficient goes up to the level where they're deemed as serious criminals meant for the death penalty, even though they haven't harmed anyone. And so, when the market is unlocked, the police see them, and upon viewing their crime coefficients, kill them on the spot.
This type of surveillance is, by definition, Orwellian. Having your every move, although it is claimed to be for the benefit of society, watched and analyzed, is not fit for a "free world".
I'm very lucky to live here in the U.S., where people are at least aware of government surveillance and act like nothing is happening.
Of course, the surveillance in America is extremely tame to what is shown in Psycho Pass. Psycho Pass is just an example of "what could be"
And I really hope it isn't. People have the right to stress about their problems, to let it out, to be reasonably angry without causing too much of a ruckus. The fact that our surveillance systems cannot 100% understand the context of what is shown on tape can cause many false accusations and ruin many lives.
Why the title Mandatory Happiness?
If our surveillance ever becomes like the one in the clip, we'll all have to force ourselves to live happily, whether we like it or not.
See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.
Truly horrifying.
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