The Great Hack
Recently I stumbled upon one of the best documentaries I have watched to date- The Great Hack. Rarely does a documentary come along that I can pick absolutely no flaws in, and this was one of them. By far one of the most interesting things I have watched on Netflix (maybe even trumping Black Mirror), the Great Hack explores the controversial topics of both Brexit and Trump's election and how these had been somewhat rigged. Cambridge Analytica breached data rights and partnered with Facebook to start a campaign of propaganda which sought to influence the minds of those whom their alogrithm had identified as the most easily infulenced.
The thing that I found so thought-provoking about the documentary was the sheer frankness that we have all become commodities, as data is now worth more than the oil industry. In this sense, we all have an online persona, a sort of online self if you will, that is composed of all the data that we put online about ourselves. It sort of reminds me of that Black Mirror episode, 'Be Right Back', where a robot that completely mimics a dead man can be composed entirely off his Facebook use and social media presence. The idea that we have become commodities, as we sell our souls to social media, means that we are able to be targeted by huge corporations and governmental powers that have an agenda, and since we re so consumed with social media, our entire outlook on political situations can be manipulated purely through fake news of Facebook.
It almost feels like we are living in some dystopian future, when we have to question whether our own thoughts are really our own, or rather those that have been moulded into us by social media, as we become the ultimate targets for complete manipulation, and the ability to actually think for one's self is brought into question.
When the question of whether your phone microphone is always recording and can listen to your conversations is brought into question, the simple and harrowing answer is 'no' and in fact our behaviours can be predicted now through algorithms, leading us to be persuaded and manipulated into buying certain things.
Overall, I would highly recommend anyone interested in the current culture we are living in and the implications of technology and the internet on modern life and politics, as well as free will, to go and watch this documentary, you wont regret it.
The thing that I found so thought-provoking about the documentary was the sheer frankness that we have all become commodities, as data is now worth more than the oil industry. In this sense, we all have an online persona, a sort of online self if you will, that is composed of all the data that we put online about ourselves. It sort of reminds me of that Black Mirror episode, 'Be Right Back', where a robot that completely mimics a dead man can be composed entirely off his Facebook use and social media presence. The idea that we have become commodities, as we sell our souls to social media, means that we are able to be targeted by huge corporations and governmental powers that have an agenda, and since we re so consumed with social media, our entire outlook on political situations can be manipulated purely through fake news of Facebook.
It almost feels like we are living in some dystopian future, when we have to question whether our own thoughts are really our own, or rather those that have been moulded into us by social media, as we become the ultimate targets for complete manipulation, and the ability to actually think for one's self is brought into question.
When the question of whether your phone microphone is always recording and can listen to your conversations is brought into question, the simple and harrowing answer is 'no' and in fact our behaviours can be predicted now through algorithms, leading us to be persuaded and manipulated into buying certain things.
Overall, I would highly recommend anyone interested in the current culture we are living in and the implications of technology and the internet on modern life and politics, as well as free will, to go and watch this documentary, you wont regret it.
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