Omnscient: Living Without or In Fear?

     Omniscient means all-knowing, and in this universe, the drones are all-knowing. The show continues with its typical pace of who killed my father, shady corporation, etc. Frankly, I am a little over the story, the setting and atmosphere are the most appealing by far. The story is any other murder mystery story retold with dystopian technological flair. That dystopian technology however is what makes it entertaining and the purpose of the show, an all-knowing surveillance technology. Privacy is an illusion, and to think otherwise is asinine, ask Nina. Throughout the show scenes of intimate, private, and sensitive matters are exposed by the drones, and though technically not viewed by humans it still is a constant reminder that something, a computer in specific is watching. 

  So how do you operate in a world where you have no private life in theory? In omniscient, your business isn't propagated, but you are still watched. Your neighbors won't know your details but a computer will. So is it immoral? illegal? That depends on how you view the computer. If the computer in charge of the Omniscient program you deem sentient, or capable of human-like interaction or feeling where your private actions can be shunned, or have some sort of social ramification, let's say as if a human watched you not a computer then clearly this is a violation of privacy and immoral. However, as we know from the show and previous blog posts the government of said city does not view it this way. They view the computer as impartial, mechanical, and robotic as it was designed to be, you are not to question or wonder what they see you are simply to live without fear. Using diffusion and encoders strong point to calm possible questions and panic in the legality, and morality of the system. 

  This is similar to China in some ways, the Chinese state surveillance system doesn't encompass a single city, but a country of over a billion. The reason for a surveillance system in China is similar to that of Nina's city safety, and transparency. Instead of having drones, they have millions of cameras and databases, and instead of a computer watching them they have both computers and party officials watching for attacks on China. Those attacks are not made with bullets, and bombs but disloyalty, subversion, and dignification of the Chinese Communist Party. Both systems invade privacy to ensure safety and security through government-sanctioned means, often used to benefit the government. So though the cultural and reasoning behind the installation of drones/cameras both are meant to benefit the government, and ease the tensions that technology-connected people can create. Whether it be politically aggravated regions in China like Tibet and Xinjiang or reduce crime rates in a fantasy Brazilian city.