Google is Always Watching Me: When Tech Can Read Minds
By Montserrat Dabkowski
I was very excited to read George Orwell’s 1984 this week, since it is a classic that I did not read in any of my high school English classes, unlike most of my peers. I do feel like I’m missing out a little, particularly because I would really enjoy the opportunity to compare the thoughts I would have had in high school with my thoughts after reading it this week as a college senior. However, I think I am able to reflect on and compare the information I would have found the most profound when I was sixteen or seventeen, with that which I found most profound during reading 1984 this week.
I think as a high school student I would have been most affected by the totalitarian world Orwell describes and its parallels with Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. In fact, I think in high school I would have read 1984 in much the same way I read Animal Farm (interestingly enough, also by Orwell). This government parallel is not lost on me now, however, it was not the theme I was continually drawn to this week. This is an ethical technology class, not a history class and my reading of 1984 has been informed by our discussions.
The phrases “Big Brother” and “Thought Police” are nearly synonymous with government surveillance. While never having read 1984, I knew these phrases were part of the English lexicon (I even used them) and I knew the theme of surveillance ran throughout the novel. However, I expected the government surveillance in 1984 to be more encompassing. It was not until the author notes “Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed – no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull”, that I had the realization that the telescreens could not actually read Winston’s mind. I believe this presumption that the government surveillance in 1984 extended to thoughts is informed by more current science fiction and the popular notion that soon we will have integrated circuits implanted in our brains to increase memory and processing power, and the intrinsically linked fear that our minds will be spied on through this technology.
It’s quite possible that mind-reading technology was not a consideration in the late 1940s when the novel was published. However, it is mentioned that “The scientist of today is either a mixture of psychologist and inquisitor, studying with real ordinary minuteness the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, and tones of voice” in an attempt to weed out thoughtcrime, perhaps a precursor of sorts to actual mind-reading technology. Furthermore, towards the end of the novel, Winston remarks to himself that O’Brien can tell when he is not being truthful. Whether O’Brien is particularly astute or can actually read his mind is unclear.
In writing this journal, I realized I had failed to mark the previous quote regarding scientists in Winston’s world. Google-ing the vague description of the quote did not turn up any results, so I thought I would merely go to Google Books then search the book itself for the fragment of the quote I could remember. I went to Google and typed “google books” into the search bar and hit enter. A fraction of a second later, above any of the actual search results, Google helpfully suggested (based on previous searches for the elusive quote) I might try “google books 1984”, a reminder that instead of Big Brother, Google is always watching me.