There’s a plot in an American TV series
that an innocent man was inserted a microcontroller in his eyeball, through
which the villains could give him order. If he refused to obey, the
microcontroller would explode and kill him immediately.
Though being dramatically exaggerated, it
still gets me nervous concerning the undeniable reality in a ubiquitous
computing technology era, that the will of individuals and the will of code
designers are unlikely to be distinguished, therefore, beneath the mask of
friendly designed services, it could be exploiting people of their free will
and diversified choice of lifestyles.
As the computing technology gets tangible
in every aspect of people’s daily life, bringing enjoyable users’ experience and
the most convenient access to the service, people are likely to be willing to
give it a try and therefore get cultivated to take the device as an essential
part of their life. Take Dianping as an example, an app in China that advises users
with nearby restaurants and entertainments based on the earlier reviews and
rates. I thought it reliable and used it often before I knew that a great
amount of shop owners would hire people to rate five stars and write positive
reviews just to attract more consumers. Commercial service would always be based
on the fact that it is profitable, meaning the benefiting party are more likely
to be the servers rather than users, while they will probably never find it
out.
While the computing technology are getting
ubiquitous in our life, the increasingly
invisibility of media is exemplified by their disappearing from consciousness
when used intensely. (Mark Deuze, Media Life, SAGE) No longer separated
with a flat screen, marking the boundary of virtual and realistic world, we can
hold it in hand without knowing there’s a complicated computing technology
behind. The invisibility makes it irresistible, and gives chance to the power
holders to educate people the way they want.
Thinking about the foregoing and unwritten
potential harms that the ubiquitous computing technology would bring about, I
think I’d have a second thought before I plunge into the wave, only if I had a
choice.
