Imagine working for a company where the motto is a mix of:
‘secrets are lies’, ‘sharing is caring’ and ‘privacy is theft’.
Mae Holland, the protagonist of Dave Eggers’ novel "The Circle" is relieved when she leaves her mundane job at a public utility company
and becomes a Circler.
She finds herself in the most sought-after working
environment of the world. A company that caters for its employees like no one
else does (and this reminded me so much of Google), with facilities for every
imaginable sporting endeavor, parties for any taste, an all-reaching health
insurance and lots more. And what does ‘The Circle’ do to make ends meet? Think
of them as Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. combined and one account for everything
going on online. And it has to be the real one. No more hiding around.
And just imagine there’s a micro camera cheap and tiny and
robust and efficient enough, that every corner of the world –even the Tahrir
Square in Egypt and your front lawn- has one such wedged conveniently for
everyone to see … everything.
So, Dave Eggers’ ‘what-if question’ emanates from the pages
of his book and is as follows: What if we
achieved a state of complete transparency –by means of technology- in every
aspect of our lives? (You’ve got to read it to find out…)
It’s an interesting question that I will couple with an
equally interesting piece of research.
Have you been into a Christian Orthodox church? If not,
here’s a glimpse of what you’ll encounter in the interior.
Lot’s of pairs of eyes looking at you. And what about Uncle
Sam? He’s also looking at you with his brows furrowed enough to convey the
seriousness of the occasion.
Or consider Turkey, with its longest-lasting personality cult, that of Kemal Ataturk, whose eyes will stare at you from his portraits
hanging in the most absurd places.
And then there’s this research of three ingenious British
scientists, in the kitchen of a university. The participants of their study had
the option to pay for their tea, coffee and milk via a honesty box according to
the instructions posted on a cupboard door at eye height. The researchers added
one more image below the instructions that alternated each week between a
flowery image and an image of a pair of eyes. What they did next was to measure
how much the participants had paid each week for their beverage and that’s what
they found:
The ‘eyes-weeks’ elicited greater levels of honesty towards
the honesty box by the participants. It seems that a set of eyes trained on you
has a decisive impact on the subconscious level and results in more honesty and
obedience.
I suggest you read Dave Eggers' book if you want to stumble
upon more eye-opening ‘what-if-questions’.
Read more on Part 2.
Read more on Part 2.
