Symone Williams- Chapter 7 and 8

Between both the chapters, I resonated most with chapter 8. Chapter 8 talked a lot about paranoia and conspiracy theories that feed the general paranoia. This chapter was especially relevant to my past blogs about the current data scare revolving around social networks collecting data even when we are not using said social networks. For example, I've seen more people putting stickers over their laptop webcams. This makes me think of the "Big Brother is always watching"conspiracy theories that has generated many sci-fi plots and even the reality TV show Big Brother. I want to focus on the show because I love reality TV. The show takes about 20 people and sticks them in a house where they will not leave until their own eviction, and last person to be evicted by their fellow roommates  wins 500,000 dollars. Despite being watched by millions, people lie and make strategies  to win the money.I think Big Brother especially encompasses our simultaneous  fear and enticement with being watched. The show heavily focuses on the game aspect, but it creates a concentrated representation of always being watched and that awareness of being watched. The cameras constantly turning and moving to see the roommates is representative of the fear that we are always being watched; thus, the increase in stickers on webcams. As corporations collect data on society more conspicuously and easily, the more Big Brother conspiracy theories arise and become more realistic.
Also, I was fascinated by Davis connections to VR in Chapter 7. Our occupation in the cyberspace has since evolved and continues to evolve rapidly. When I think of VR, I think of gaming. However, VR is the simulation of society within cyberspace. The pixels that make up avatars and other elements are our ideal selves or characters that we can't express in the physical world. This chapter reminded me of the James Cameron movie Avatar. I've seen the movie many times, but if I were to watch it again with a TechGnosis lens, there is a lot more insight from that movie to gather. This explanation of one's own soul through an Alien society is the epitome of the mysticism of other species  that Davis writes about in both chapters. Perhaps there is an Avatar that we can connect with in another galaxy; but the best analogy I can think of is the avatars we connect with in our own virtual realities. With the evolution of cyberspace, we no longer have to fantasize about traveling to other planets to find an avatar. Our avatars are within our social media and RPG's  that connect us to the Avatars that James Cameron portrays in the movie.

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