ipl-logo

George Orwell Panopticon

796 Words4 Pages

Panopticon, George Orwell and CCTV cameras.

Submitted by Ananthajith KR HS15H004

Two hundred and twenty seven years ago, an English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, conceived an innovative way of massive surveillance, the Panopticon. One hundred and sixty one years later, in 1949, an English author, George Orwell, foretold about a world where every move that you make, every word that you speak and every thought that cross your mind is monitored. With the advent of the twenty-first century, George Orwell was proven correct; Panopticon was electronically extended.

The Panopticon, as designed by Bentham was in its form a circular building that housed the inmates with a central watchtower from which the watchman could watch the inmates. …show more content…

It instills a belief in people that they are constantly being monitored by some unknown entity. This tempts people to change their behavior, external manifestations of their thoughts and feelings. This control of mind over mind is what makes CCTV (or Panopticon) effective surveillance tools.

With the emergence of CCTV, the balance of power has shifted. We are not in control of ourselves, yet we control ourselves. Somebody sitting somewhere, or somebody not sitting anywhere, somebody non-existent is telling us to control our behavior. The CCTV system ensures its masters high efficiency with almost no expenses.

This makes CCTV an ideal choice for ceaseless surveillance. A person living in New York City will find it impossible to go to a departmental store without making themselves present to surveillance by CCTV cameras. The fixed stare of the cameras will follow them everyplace they go. Privacy becomes a misapprehension. CCTV systems and their omnipresent, non-stop surveillance is the primary reason why self-awareness escalates to self-consciousness in the present-day society. We become machinelike in our movements, social interactions cease to be humanistic. The whole world works like a pre-programmed machine. There are no organic interactions, no empathy, no emotions, and no feelings. Everybody becomes suspicious of others and of themselves. A single poster saying, “You are under CCTV surveillance.” is enough to …show more content…

They make us less human. They invade into our privacy, they remodel our minds and they restructure the way we think. And strategic positioning of cameras are not going to ease the awkwardness we feel. But unfortunately, that is not what its advocates

Show More
Related
259 Words | 2 Pages

Surveillance came about for the purpose of distinguishing people from one another and placing them into groups. It also helped to keep track of population control and keep track of land ownership. Surveillance provides us with knowledge, which helps maintain order and retain implemented rules. Jeremy Bentham designed the Panopticom in the late 18th century. The Panopticom is an architectural figure that enables all of the cells to be viewed from a central tower in a prison setting.

Read More
319 Words | 2 Pages

In both 1984 by George Orwell, and The Veldt by Ray Bradbury, the themes presented are both able to present a clear warning to the readers of the power of technology, and the damaging power it can have on our lives. In Part 1 of 1984, The Inner Party establishes a facade of protection to gain control over Oceania and the citizens. This is mainly achieved through the technological advances that gives The Party authority over people 's actions because of the 24/7 surveillance of their every move. At the beginning of the novel, protagonist Wilson says “the instrument (telescreens) could be dimmed but there was no way of shutting it off altogether” (8). These telescreens are used to minimise the amount of Thoughtcrime, which, in Oceania, violates

Read More
870 Words | 4 Pages

As in our regular life style being observed by cameras is fairly common. Every store has cameras that are mainly for safety, but yet we are not fully safe. Those cameras could be use to spy and kidnap people. The

Read More
1503 Words | 7 Pages

Although officers claim they aren’t as unprofessional as everyone says, many people beg to differ. A lot of people have evidence on how they were mistreated, and how the officers weren’t at all professional. Others have been killed and seriously injured, but the idea is still up in the air after several years. To protect themselves, and others around them, police officers should be forced to wear body cameras while they’re in a case or are talking to a suspect while on duty. Having to wear body cameras would be a positive way to help the authorities to see the truth better than just having to listen to the voice recorder.

Read More
1195 Words | 5 Pages

Have you ever had the suspicious feeling that someone was watching you? More often than not, it is just your mind playing tricks on you. With the introduction of so many new smart-technology products, it might not just be your mind playing tricks on you. These advancements in technology allowing for smart phones, smart TVs, smart watches, smart speakers, and even smart toilets have come at a great cost: our right to privacy in our own homes. Most of us purchase these products because they are the popular trend at the time.

Read More
798 Words | 4 Pages

It is very important to use surveillance, but if you use it unjustly it can give more power to public order than individual rights. It causes a similar problem as the ones mentioned before, that it can prove challenging to identify if you had a good reason to use surveillance. You might not always know if you have a good enough reason to use surveillance, but you should exercise your best judgement to decide whether or not to use

Read More
1390 Words | 6 Pages

Surveillance is becoming increasingly integrated into human lives. Seemingly inconsequential minutiae like how long one spends in line at a grocery store or how many times a headline is clicked on a social media site are collected automatically by both public and private institutions. Whatever we do and wherever we go, there is likely some trace of it. This has led to great debates about the right to privacy, how much surveillance is too much, and under what circumstances surveillance is justifiable. Film and Television play important roles in these debates and in the way in which the public conceptualizes the utility and threat of surveillance more generally.

Read More
789 Words | 4 Pages

People get monitored twenty-four seven, the past is the same as today’s society, and the government sees people’s thoughts. George Orwell was accurate when making predictions from his novel to today’s society. In the

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

Surveillance cameras are a big deal in today 's world as well, as they spy on the average person as they go about their daily routine. In today 's society cell phones are a big controversy. As it states in the article That 's No Phone. That 's My Tracker, “ The

Read More
951 Words | 4 Pages

In 1949, a man predicted the domination of citizens by the totalitarian government and their custom of technologies to dictate the society. His name is George Orwell, a well-known British author, who wrote one of the most famous dystopian novels, 1984. The novel 1984 illustrates the totalitarian society and the life of Winston Smith, who works at the Ministry of truth and his humiliation by the party of the country, Oceania. George Orwell’s exaggeration and mockery of the totalitarian governments in the novel 1984 is now turning out to be one of the nightmare come true in our modern society.

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

Every store has cameras that are mainly for safety, but yet we are not fully safe. Those cameras could be used to spy and kidnap people. The telescreens are more than just cameras explained by Winston, He explains how, “ ... your breathing could be control … but you could not controlled the beating of your heart, and the telescreen was quite delicate enough to pick it up” (Orwell, page 79). Citizens of Oceania are always being watched by the thought police office.

Read More
876 Words | 4 Pages

In modern times there is a camera on every corner and in almost every pocket. This has been caused by the boom in modern technological advancements that have swept the world in the last thirty-five years. Now in modern times technology can almost be unavoidable in first world nations. These innovations have lead to many remarkable discoveries in technology but have also created a slew of new issues that reflect the problems with the dystopian society that Winston Smith lives in in the novel 1984. With all the new technology and invasion of privacy that is committed by it, the modern world is beginning to reflect the fictional world of Big Brother.

Read More
1684 Words | 7 Pages

People may be aware that today’s world is becoming closer to the totalitarian world in Orwell’s novel 1984. In Peter Maass, and Megha Rajagopalah article “That’s no Phone. That’s my Tracker.” Maas and Rajagopalah state, “Noted that GPS data can reveal whether a person is a weekly church goer, a heavy drinker, a regular at the gym, unfaithful husband, an outpatient receiving medical treatment, an associate of particular individual or political group-and not just one such fact about a person”. Technology nowadays knows a person better than their own friends or family.

Read More
868 Words | 4 Pages

Visualization Regarding this, I want you to imagine a CCTV monitored playground with kids playing on it. Although some people might find it creepy that someone is watching them, picture out the sense of security provided by the CCTVs to the parents of these children. Now, let’s look at the bigger picture. Visualize the country where every intersection, road and public areas are monitored by CCTVs. Imagine that every road accident, crime can be recorded and all offenders can be traced and put to justice.

Read More
1295 Words | 6 Pages

You can see individuals walking in parking lots. There is actually enough resolution to be able to see the people waving their arms, or walking around, [or to see] what kind of clothes they wear.” With this and even more increasing technologies the most intimate details of our live may be potentially revealed without our approval. This could really threaten our nation’s privacy and actually violates part of our First Amendment rights which “prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion and abridging the freedom of speech”. Everything we do will be constantly observed by the Government and due to few federally regulated laws they are “free to roam about the

Read More

More about George Orwell Panopticon

Related Topics

Open Document