Is Today the Most Private the Rest of Our Lives Will Be?

I've been listening a lot lately to The Future by Leonard Cohen. These lines in particular stand out to me.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore

Despite listening to this songs more than a hundred times, I have always thought that Cohen sang "Nothing you can't measure anymore" instead "Nothing you can measure anymore."

I think the mishearing is a more interesting statement. Because we are heading into a future where everything will be measured in some way or another.

When UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed in December 2024 and they were searching for the then-unknown murderer, I remember I thought to myself it will be a test of how surveilled our society is.

Would it be possible to gun someone on the middle of 6th Avenue in New York and still get away with it? The answer was no.

Luigi Mangione was luckily identified and arrested on December 9th at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, ending his five day on the run.

Longing for an analogue world

I've been daydreaming about being young up in the 80s and 90s, instead of today. Imagine what it must have felt like going to a party where nobody is on their phones, because there are no smartphones. Imagine the joy of saving money for weeks in order to buy a vinyl.

Don't get me wrong. The ability to measure new areas accurately can be a wonderful thing. I'm personally stoked about the prospect of better medical screenings to help detect and cure diseases.

What I'm less stoked about is the increasing ability for tech companies to monitor and measure activities that I think are deeply human.

Meta (of course) recently announced that they would track worker's keystrokes in order to train AI.

The arch of history bends towards surveillance

Despite all the wonders of tech, I cannot confidently say that it has improved my personal life. Sure, it is super nice to always be able to know where I'm in the world by looking at Google maps or the easement.

I'm concerned of what a future where everything is measured all the time will feel like. The price of doing something embarrassing in the public has increased manifold with the introduction of smartphones.

If you got smashingly drunk and urinated in the public fountain in the middle of the town square in the 80s, the worst case scenario would be judgement from your local peers and maybe a fine from the police or a night in the drunk tank. If you do the same today, you are almost guaranteed to be filmed by someone with the risk of going viral.

There'll be the breaking of the ancient
Western code
Your private life will suddenly explode