Cyborgs in the panopticon

Abstract

The pervasive and incessant use of smartphones by adolescents has created a generation of cyborgs, as if they have acquired a new sense organ or appendage, and has radically changed for them what it means to be human. Their constant connection to cyberspace facilitates what Foucault called “the means of correct training”: hierarchical observation, normalizing judgement, and the examination. The effectiveness of these methods of social control has been exponentially increased as observation is now both hierarchical and horizontal, normalizing judgement is accomplished efficiently through social media, and the examination is a continuous process occurring online. Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon is no longer an imaginary architectural edifice, but instead an online hive-mind with each smartphone acting as a mobile node in a surveillance system. The prescient science fiction series, Star Trek, foresaw these developments in their portrayal of the Borg, a collective of interlinked humanoid drones intent on assimilating all the other races in the universe through the addition of cybernetic enhancements. Are we becoming cyborg drones trapped in an online web of addiction and consumption, subtly surveilled, certainly manipulated, and perhaps even controlled by our prized panopticon appendages? Or will we use our technological connectivity to revolutionize the way we live on Earth and create a sustainable future?