Who Watches the Apple
Watch While the Apple Watch Watches You?
Astral
Facts, January 2017
Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating,
a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world
in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.
Who Watches the Apple Watch While the
Apple Watch is Watching You?
“It was
the best of times, it was the worst of times” is how Charles Dickens began his
story in 1859. (Snoopy’s unfinished novel
begins the same as well.) How
interesting that we can continue to relate to such content from literary works,
of varying degrees of stature, as life unfolds and plays out around us.
Perhaps
more interesting is the application of such content done unknowingly in a chain
of dropped reference citations. For example,
during a recent informal conversation among faculty here on campus, the
discussion turned to the current trends in technology with wrist devices now
counting steps, measuring heart rate, and doing everything except providing
answers to questions on the SATs.
Someone mentioned that in China, people are now wearing “movement
tracker” body devices that observe and record aspects of body language, noting
the frequency of positive and negative body language. Through this, the accumulation of points by using
“positive” body language can be a factor in a person’s social and professional
status, resulting in job promotions for those responsible for creating “positive
vibes” around them.
The
immediate response around the table evoked the phrase “Big Brother is Watching.” Of course, at our table the origins of the
concept coming from George Orwell’s 1984
was understood, and the discussion then continued revolving around aspects of
the “lag time” of advances of technology outpacing issues of ethics – and where/how
do people, especially young people today – learn or acquire their body of
ethics. People use live video to post up reprehensible behavior. We remarked on how the emphasis
on STEM content has left less time for reviewing content from literature, philosophy, the
arts, etc.
At home
I asked my children where does the expression “Big Brother is Watching” come
from and only one attributed it to Orwell, although he admitted he had not read
the book (or even seen the movie).
Another child thought it might have come from a scene in the film Fahrenheit 451, which is not so far from
the truth. That child was vaguely aware
that the story was also in book form - probably as a result of the film.
( Note: I'm glad I read Fahrenheit 451 before I saw the movie, but when I reflect upon it,
the scenes from the movie are mostly what appear in my mind as my thoughts
align with the filmmaker’s views.)
In a
2006 TED Talk, “Do schools kill creativity?”, Sir Ken Robinson comments that the
emphasis on “productivity” and doing things “right” has diminished the reliance
on the natural creativity inherent in children. The
fear of being “wrong” supplants the curiosity and ingenuity that seeks out
different approaches and innovative thinking. Robinson tells the
story of the Nativity Play put on by the four-year-old performers when his son was in
preschool. The boys in the role of the
three kings mixed up the order of the presentation of gifts (gold, frankincense,
and myrrh) as they walked on the stage, set down their gifts and said, in turn,
“I bring you gold”
“I bring you myrrh”
“Frank sent this.”
This was
charming as it came from a four-year-old.
However, children a bit older would have embarrassed their families by
such “mistakes.” Later in his talk,
Robinson related the story of Gillian Lynne, a dancer and choreographer who did
Cats and Phantom of the Opera. As an
eight-year-old child, she was not a good student – fidgety and unable to concentrate
- and consequently diagnosed as having serious learning disabilities. When her mother took her to a specialist and used
most of the session to explain all the symptoms, the doctor told the child he
needed to speak privately with the mother and they left her alone in the
office. As he left, the doctor turned on
the radio on his desk. Upon leaving the
room, the doctor stopped the mother and said “Let’s watch.” Not realizing she was being observed, the
child immediately stood up and began moving with the music. After a few minutes, the doctor turned to the
mother and told her, “Gillian isn’t sick; she’s a dancer. Take her to a dance school.” Robinson noted that this occurred back in the
1930s, before ADHD had been invented. He
speculated that today, the child would have been diagnosed with ADHD and
medicated to keep her calm. Of course,
she would have been watched carefully as well.
It was
the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Or as the full quote states as Dickens looked back in 1859 to the days of 1789,
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the
age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of
Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had
everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to
Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so
far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on
its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of
comparison only.
Recently
I saw a little activity on a friend’s Facebook page: “Grab the
nearest book, turn to page 117, and post up the second sentence on the
page. This will be your life in 2017.” I
happened to have my literature class anthology at hand, and page 117 put me in
the middle of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”: explaining the habit of the father finishing
dinner after a long hard day and then falling asleep in his armchair and later needing
to go to bed for a good night’s sleep before getting up early for work the next
day.
The mother plucked at his sleeve, whispering sweet words into
his ear; the sister would leave her homework to help her mother, but none of
this had any effect on the father.
Hmmm….
I shared
this on my Facebook page, and with very few exceptions (such as the person grabbing
the 2017 Ford Explorer Owner’s Manual), the responses were “literary” in nature
– writings by Mark Twain, Dalai Lama, Jane Austen, W. Somerset Maugham, Joseph
Conrad, John Grisham, Georges Simenon, etc., which might merely reflect the
preferences of my Facebook community homies.
We could
ask:
How might the results differ on the Facebook page of the younger
generations (like my former student, who posted “My Kindle doesn’t have pages!”)?
In fact,
the original posting was done by the "younger" generation members of the Indie Band “Tegan and Sara.”
The hundreds of postings by their followers on their Facebook
page also reveal a wide range of “literary” quotes as well.
https://www.facebook.com/TeganandSara/photos/a.389205624109.166758.29144989109/10154893058144110/?type=3&theater#
Better
yet to ask –
Which nearby book would you choose as a prediction source to look
on page 117? How do you imagine it
applies?
As you
reach for that book, remember – your FitBit is watching!
Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.
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