George Orwell 1984 Analysis

“Big Brother is watching you,” read the posters displayed throughout Oceania, the setting of George Orwell’s novel 1984. In Orwell’s eerie prediction of the future, citizens are monitored at all times by the government and can be arrested for suspicions of having thoughts that go against the government. Although Thought Police are not patrolling the streets and Big Brother has not yet risen to power, government policies such as the Patriot Act and advancements in technology that allow for the collection and storage of massive amounts of data give today’s government the ability to closely monitor its citizens. In 2013, Edward Snowden, a former member of the National Security Agency, revealed that the United States government had been collecting the telephone and internet records of its citizens. What gave the government the authority to do this? The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT …show more content…
Kenneth Cukier, coauthor of Big Data, explained in his June 2014 TED talk that “There are dark sides to Big Data…[like] the idea we may be punished for predictions.” This prediction sounds very similar to the way 1984’s Thought Police punished citizens for having anti-Party thoughts, often with little or no evidence. However, Cukier also foresees that soon Fitbits will be able to identify biochemistry and sense when people have aggressive thoughts (“Big Data Revolution”). Such an advance in technology would give future “Thought Police” a more justifiable reason for arresting