Reality Ain’t What It Used To Be

Bill in sunglasses, with Blade Runner imagery photoshopped in the lenses
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In his remarkable essay ‘The Last Days of Reality’ [https://meanjin.com.au/essays/the-last-days-of-reality/] Mark Pesce surveys the ways Facebook exerts its influence on our lives, reviews the impact of machine learning technologies on the analysis of the personal data we all leak into the datasphere, and channels his inner Huxley to conclude that:

the future of power looks like an endless series of amusing cat videos, a universe cleverly edited by profiling, machine learning, targeting and augmented reality, fashioning a particular world view in which we will all comfortably rest”. Forget the boot, stamping on the face of the opppressed – Facebook will bring our slippers and pipes so we can sit comfortably by the fire, with no desire the challenge the authoritarian orthodoxies of our rulers.

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