Big Brother is here.
Came across these two stories out of China this week, and to be honest, I’m alarmed.
The first is a story from the South China Morning Post about Chinese companies using Brain Surveillance devices on their employees:
On the surface, the production lines at Hangzhou Zhongheng Electric look like any other.
Workers outfitted in uniforms staff lines producing sophisticated equipment for telecommunication and other industrial sectors.
But there’s one big difference – the workers wear caps to monitor their brainwaves, data that management then uses to adjust the pace of production and redesign workflows, according to the company.
The company said it could increase the overall efficiency of the workers by manipulating the frequency and length of break times to reduce mental stress.
Hangzhou Zhongheng Electric is just one example of the large-scale application of brain surveillance devices to monitor people’s emotions and other mental activities in the workplace, according to scientists and companies involved in the government-backed projects.
Concealed in regular safety helmets or uniform hats, these lightweight, wireless sensors constantly monitor the wearer’s brainwaves and stream the data to computers that use artificial intelligence algorithms to detect emotional spikes such as depression, anxiety or rage.
The technology is also in use at in Hangzhou at State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power, where it has boosted company profits by about 2 billion yuan (US$315 million) since it was rolled out in 2014, according to Cheng Jingzhou, an official overseeing the company’s emotional surveillance programme.
Yes, you read that right. “Emotional Surveillance Programme”.
But wait there’s more. CBS news is reporting that China is rolling out a “Social Credit Score”.
The idea is that if you do pro-social things, like community service and buying Chinese goods, your score goes up. If you do anti-social things like crime, tax-evasion or smoking in undesignated areas, your score goes down.
And what is the score used for? Well, if your score goes too low, you can’t buy property or send your kids to private schools.
And how is the government collecting all this data? Through millions of AI powered surveillance cameras.
I mean FFS!
Does this sound like hell to you? It does to me.
Cameras tracking everything you do, brain sensors tracking you at work. Oh my god.
What’s more, Australian academic Clive Hamilton writes a book on the shadowy influence of Chinese money on Australian politics, and not one but two publishers refuse to publish it?!? Out of fear of reprisals?!?
Now I know some lefty somewhere is ready to call me a racist and write a stingy critique to their local independent theatre company, but this is ridiculous.
And this isn’t about Chinese people. Race has nothing to do with it. This is about totalitarian states, not just in China, but everywhere.
This is about poor ol' Jon in Australia being scared out of his pants because we have god-like powers being given to a monkey-like species. What happens when robot-arms with AI targeting start flinging the poo? What happens then, Brian?
I think this really is crunch time for our species. It really hangs in the balance.
Either we sort our governance structures out now, and let technology usher in a golden age of miracle and wonder.
Or we stick with the crap we’ve got now and let technology deliver us into a living dystopian hell.
It really feels like this is the choice we’re facing right now.
The time is coming. Sitting on the fence is no longer an option.
Pauline says
I have to agree Jon – our politicians are allowing and assisting in selling out our country to overseas interests. Once they have a reasonable foothold here, tactics such as this can be instigated. A chap I knew quite a number of years ago moved his manufacturing to China because they could impose fines and sanctions on employees who made the same mistake more than once. First mistake was discussion and re-training, second mistake was a fine and then the fines got larger if the error rate on the production line continued. Third mistake – dismissal. This brain wave surveillance program is just the next step. Unfortunately workers in China do not have much say and neither do business owners – the State has all the power. There needs to be a balance between employer and employee and to my experience, co-operation means everyone’s lives are better. What is next – the little sensor will zap your brain if the AI deems it necessary – boom – no more worker!
Helena Smirnis says
At least China is much more open about it and the people know the situation that they are in. This is not the case in Australia. The Government here brings in unlawful Acts that do not recognise the Commonwealth Constitution, which is where the people’s rights are and was written to keep the Government in check. Instead the Government dictates what the Education Carriculum is, then does away with teaching the Commonwealth Constitution in schools, so that the people of Australia no longer know their rights and then start implementing hundreds of unlawful Acts and not informing the people about them so that they are less likely to react. and none the wiser.
The people of Australia at the 1988 Referrendum voted No, to making Local Council a Third Tier of Government, only to have the Government 12 months later under Bob Hawke implement it anyway.
Right now the Government are wanting to introduce, the “New Local Victorian Government Act 2018,” have you heard about It? l doubt very much that even 1% of people know about this. If you want to really be scared out of your pants Jon, go and read what is in this Act. Submissions ended in March this year with only around 179 submissions placed. This was my submission https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-australia/a98246da71888e059ced2dbea3e22ad1094ca31e/documents/attachments/000/075/324/original/186_-_Submission_-_Exposure_Draft_Bill_-_Helena_Smirnis.pdf?1523844095
This Act once implemented will give Local Council “Ultimate Power” with the ability to use the police to remove your property from you for any reason that they see fit to.
Yes Jon, things ARE really at a crucial point. The most dangerous part of this is that the people of Australia think that they are free and live in a Democratic Country and that we are not as bad as China. We are worse because it is all being done without the peoples knowledge.
The Smart Meter Grid that is being rolled out not only in Australia but throughout the whole world will be total control and domination of the people when it is fully implemented, but the majority of people here in Australia do not have a clue what is planned either.
l could go on, with “Doctors in schools”, “Safe Schools”, etc but this is usually all too much for the average Joe. We truly have reason for not blindly believing The Government and implementing the change that WE want to see. But first you have to know where we are at.
Good Discussion topic Jon.