BE YOUR OWN BIG BROTHER
Big tech models you better than you model yourself.
A11. Layby. Motors passing 70mph. Some hitting 100mph.
The artery. The flow.
Phone landscape, clasped in holder.
Hit connect.
Dokology session by the roadside.
DOK: I had something today I wanted to hit on.
Big data.
How tech firms gather vast amounts of data on you.
Thus they can predict your next purchases.
Nudge you to a purchase.
Predict your next moves.
Map out how your life will go.
KATRIANA: I hate all that. That’s why I use Signal Messenger and Brave Browser.
DOK: It’s Big Brother — certainly.
Invasive.
Unacceptable.
Thing is though, kid with smart glasses can film you too.
Like at moments you are daydreaming, not overly conscious.
Doing something personal.
Embarrassing.
It’s not just surveillance from Big Brother.
Everyone is at it — or will be.
There’s no privacy.
People see you more than you see yourself.
KATRINA: Right, it’s scary.
DOK: It is until you realise you can turn the tables.
Let me ask you this:
Have you ever gathered data on yourself?
Analysed your personality and how you go about in life?
Have you probed deeply into the system that is you?
KATRINA: Well I used to do loads of self-help and go for counselling.
So that was all about self-analysis.
But it didn’t do any good.
I just became more vain that I was before.
Talking about myself all the time.
DOK: Nothing wrong with vanity IF it’s about noticing and correcting.
Portraying what you wish to portray on any given day.
KATRINA: Haha, I never looked at it that way.
Tell me what you mean by gathering data on yourself?
DOK: Think about this:
If you mirror big tech.
Do information gathering on yourself.
Then you would be able to predict your own next moves.
Let’s face it, you don’t do this now.
Because you have not gathered data about yourself.
So your next moves are often haphazard.
Not overly controlled or mapped out.
At least to you.
But big tech is easily able to predict what you will do next.
So why not you?
Why not gain control and understanding of yourself?
KATRINA: Wow. I never thought of it that way.
You’re right everybody complains about big tech having so much data on them.
But how much do they have on themselves?
It’s like they’re on autopilot.
But complain when somebody else analyses them.
DOK: That’s right.
And be self-observing, collecting your own data on yourself, you can calculatedly avoid participating in the system.
You can run the trackers a merry dance.
They will not be able to profile you.
Because there is nothing there to profile.
Your profile keeps changing.
Not because you are rebelling against the system.
But because you simply aren’t participating in it.
You aren’t controlled by it.
Nor are you controlled by your own emotional reactions.
Nor by the incessant stream of self-talk.
KATRINA: So when I fill in forms do I give incorrect information?
DOK: You can do so long as it doesn’t land you in trouble.
Mostly you don’t lie about your key details.
But if some form asks about your preferences, say like drinks, note down something you can’t stand.
Other than that it’s about making adjustments to yourself — as you go.
You break habits and patterns.
Change personas.
For example, you could subtly change the way you walk.
Shorten your stride slightly.
Or model today’s personality on somebody else.
Adopt their traits.
Be them for a day.
Or slightly modify the way you talk.
Perhaps say less than you normally do.
Leave gaps and silence.
KATRINA: What would I get out of this?
DOK: A great adventure.
You’re escaping the thraldom of personality, parental and societal conditioning.
Suddenly you see reality for what it actually is.
Not only will you operate better with the clarity you gain.
But you won’t be predictable to wider society — and not even predictable to yourself.
Thus life will no longer be dull.
No longer a drudge.
Even your relationship partner of the last ten years might start to seem interesting again.
At very least you’ll be able to run experiments on the life you lead with him.
Monitor the dynamics.
Just observe.
See the pattern.
Flick off the video call.
Sit.
Breckland woods one side.
A11 traffic the other.
Time to get into the melee.
The migratory stream.
The tarmac arteries.
Streaming Youtube talk video.
Yatter-Datter.
Predictable patterns.
Armageddon in ten minutes.
Bombshell disclosure.
“You’ll never guess what happened to me today!!!”
Yes I would.
We’ve got it all on video and audio.
We mapped it before it happened.
Did you?
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