It’s never been a secret that I am terrified of the rise of the machines. That’s something all of the folks at Middle Easy share. I recently saw a video of tiny robots which appear to self-assemble using magnets and wizardry. Maybe it’s my lack of understanding of magnetism but there’s nothing about that which doesn’t freak me out. Sure, they only form simple structures just now but they can jump. Who knows what the future holds?
The not-so distant future will definitely feature self-assembling killing machines but we really need to focus on the immediate future, where in the UK, Tesco is teaming up with a company called Amscreen to install facial recognition at petrol pumps to collect age, gender and length of gaze at advertisements. Forgetting that we’ve definitely never been lied to before by corporations, Amscreen and Tesco have mentioned that while live information about who is looking at which adverts and for how long is streamed to advertising firms, no personal information will be collected. Amscreen Chief Executive Simon Sugar has said that “could change the face of British retail and our plans are to expand the screens into as many supermarkets as possible.”
Putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, we’ve got a system build by our own hands which can track who we are and what we like, 3D print and assemble itself then kill us. I guess corporations allowing advertisers to spy on us is going to be the least of our problems. And you Americans thought your civil liberties were being eroded.
