Philosophy

These musings are intended to frame a set of questions: What is the likely impact of ubiquitous surveillance on our moral personalities?

“ Imagine that right after briefing Adam about which fruit was allowed and which forbidden, God had installed a closed-circuit television camera in the garden of Eden, trained on the tree of knowledge. Think how this might have changed things for the better. The serpent sidles up to Eve and urges her to try the forbidden fruit. Eve reaches her hand out – in paradise the fruit is always conveniently within reach – but at the last second she notices the CCTV and thinks better of it. Result: no sin, no Fall, no expulsion from paradise. We don’t have to toil among thorns and thistles for the rest of our lives, earning our bread by the sweat of our brows; childbirth is painless; and we feel no need to wear clothes. So why didn’t God do that and save everyone a lot of grief? True, surveillance technology was in its infancy back then, but ... [Emrys Westacott asks a probing question continued] ” Pappy