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"I am first of all not a science fiction writer … I write, I suppose, what the Latin Americans call magic realism."
- Harlan Ellison
 |
| Telescreen | ||
| Very early use of the idea of using technology to monitor human activity at a distance. |
One of the main themes of 1984 is the control of individuals and information in society by the state. One tool is the Telescreen, an obligatory and dominant item in the homes of the inhabitants of London, capital city of Airstrip One (previously known as England).
| Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized. |
| From 1984,
by George Orwell. Published by Unknown in 1948 Additional resources -
|
Television surveillance is an now and everyday experience, albeit most often in the form of security
cameras and speed
cameras; argument rages over the goodness or otherwise of these systems.
This quote has a bit more physical description:
It's possible that the idea of a television screen that transmitted as well as received might be present in this quote from Catch That Rabbit, a 1944 story by Isaac Asimov:
George Orwell did not orginate the word telescreen. An earlier use can be found in a 1938 short story by writer A.J. Burks:
Earlier still (!), Francis Flagg (a pseudonym of George Henry Weiss'), wrote in After Armageddon (1932):
See the entry for the Televisor from Arthur J. Burks' 1938 novella The Challenge of Atlantis for more details. Also, compare to the street membranes from Yevgeny Zamyatin's 1922 We.
(This item was originally contributed by Simon Smith.)
Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
"I'm going to install a visiplate right over my desk... Then I'm going to focus it at whatever part of the mine is being worked, and I'm going to watch."
Floods, fires, hold-ups, sports events—nothing escaped the all-seeing powers of the telescreens.
It was on the tele-screen that I viewed the mobs coursing through the streets; via the news-dispenser I listened to the latest tidings from all over the country.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from 1984
More Ideas
and Technology by George Orwell
Tech news articles related to 1984
Tech news articles related to works by George Orwell
Telescreen-related
news articles:
- Accenture Gets US VISIT Biometric Security Contract
- Computerized Surveillance Devices Open Their Eyes
- Apple Apparently Working On Orwell's Telescreen
- Onboard Threat Detection System For Big Brother Airlines
- Big Brother Test Hall At Penn State
- Gesture Recognition TV Watches You
- LCD Panel Fingerprint Scanner
- Orwell's Telescreen Now Available
- In-Home Surveillance For 20K Brit Families
- Emotion Tracking Big Comedy Brother
- CCTV Camera Watches, Attached LCD Tells You How To Behave
- Orwell's '1984' Hits Bestseller Lists Thanks To PRISM
- Stasi Colonel Says Obama Surveillance Is 'Dream Come True'
| Chinese Watrix Gait Recognition Watching You Always |
| Birds Aren't Real - Wake Up, California! (With Bird Watching Guide) |
| LA Subway Scanner, As Seen In 'Total Recall' |
| Amazon's Rekognition System Sees Criminals In Congress |
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