Any one caught the TV commercial on the Siemens Xelibri phones?
Imagine a time in future when a simple phone call would get a litterbug, a jaywalker, or for that matter, any one who has stepped over the official line arrested in no time, a la “Minority Report”.
Casting aside the moral justification for such efficiency, I’ll be damned if you are not shivering like jelly by now.
If Siemens’ “vision” is indeed spot-on, it could mean that there will be no escape from the all-encompassing reach of the law (however arbitrary that may be) in the foreseeable future.
Already, we have watched how advanced technology can be abused in “Minority Report”. Are we prepared to move in that direction, knowing what could possibly lie ahead?
Unfortunately, many people are willing to sacrifice a bit of civil liberty if it brings them more security and convenience – never mind such things are relative to different individuals.
Unfortunately too, civil liberty, once taken away, can seldom find its way back to the owner.
Worse of all, if the people of tomorrow (especially kids) were to look like the characters in the Siemens commercial, that would be so scary!
