Discussion Points to 'Is The Pursuit of Total Knowledge a Good Thing?'

Discussion Points

Questions arising from topics covered in ‘Is The Pursuit of Total Knowledge a Good Thing?’

Khen Lim

Image source: IMDB

Now that you have read the article ‘Is The Pursuit of Total Knowledge a Good Thing?’ there are numerous questions that one can raise about the topics that have been talked about. If you’re running a discussion group on the movie ‘The Circle,’ here are twelve questions that you might be interested in bringing up:

1.     Do you see the devices used in The Circle to be threats of violence not just in the movie but in real life? The most apparent one is the SeeChange camera but of course, you also see smartphones and drones. In what ways do you consider them dangerous? Or not?

2.    Would you like to be like Mae Holland and get to have your life accessible online by everyone throughout the world? Obviously, you’d be world-famous without a doubt. Everyone will know you. Think of the millions of people who will admire and envy you. You’d be an instant celebrity. Those are just some of the ‘plus’ points many young people would likely die for but what about you? Would you like to be Mae Holland yourself?

3.    How would you like to have a career in an organisation like The Circle? Considering what you know, do you think it’ll be fun? What aspects of your job at The Circle you reckon you’ll really enjoy? And what aspects you would be hesitant to get involved in?

4.    As you already know, the movie is very big on the issue of privacy. What is your viewpoint on the benefits to the individual and the community in sacrificing privacy? Do you support it or not? How about when it comes to the privacy of underaged children? Should parents be able to fully access their children’s social media accounts?

5.    You know that we’ve often equated The Circle to the real-life version of Facebook alone or as a combination with other IT giants such as Apple, YouTube (Google), Twitter and Instagram. Do you think this is fair and accurate?

6.    Some people love a high-flying job where you end up living off your suitcase, going to many different countries, attending meetings and then come home to tell your friends about it. What a jet-setting life! That’s just what Mae’s friend Annie is doing as she tackles the demands of her job at The Circle but to cope, she takes pills. While we don’t know what these pills are, you can probably guess. Are these pills something she chooses to take or do you think she really has no choice?

Image source: IMDB

7.     From the movie, we are open to the promises of technological innovations used to serve society by catching criminals on the run anywhere in the world, solving complex healthcare issues, going to the forefront in promoting democracy and stopping all the political opacity by enforcing transparency. These are the purported benefits but in your view, do you truly believe that this is all there is to it? Do you, in other words, think that there is something quite fishy about all this? Do you smell a rat somewhere? Are they hiding something?

8.    From our earlier discussions, you may now perceive those who are powerful enough to dictate things from the top are the elites and more often than not, they are the ones who seem to be endangering personal freedom and privacy. Should they allow others to view their family histories, relationships and activities in exactly the same way as anyone else? Or because they need to control things, they should be exempt? Because they are the ‘real’ innovators, should we trust them to do the right thing and therefore, free them from being transparent?

9.    Think for a moment that you are living in a society that is completely under surveillance. Wherever you go, the moment you leave your home, you are being constantly monitored. As you move from one precinct to another, guards at checkpoints demand to see your papers to determine if you have any business entering a different area. Whoever you talk to in person or on mobile devices are tracked and if the authorities deem necessary, they will have the right to know the purpose of the call (or meeting). But then again, with such surveillance, crimes are reduced. Terrorists are caught before they kill hundreds of innocent victims. Drug distribution rings are smashed and there are no more illegal migrants who should not be in the country. How would you like to live like that?

10.               If you look at society today, it seems that no one really cares about where Facebook is going and what they intend to do in the future. For that matter, no one cares either about the others. Everyone seems happy with and trust the global climate change agenda or the migrant refugee influx or the political correctness that are going on throughout the world. The latest is that more and more countries seem to be banning the use of gasoline and diesel cars within the next number of years. What do you think of all this? Are you in agreement? Or do you think that the level of unconcern for all shows how easily we are all deceived? Do you suspect that when people ignore the warnings, this spells doom for mankind?

11. If you live in a society where surveillance can often catch up with you, do you think you can escape? Think of Mercer, Mae’s friend in the movie. He tried to go off-grid in order to maintain his privacy and safety and yet he failed but then again, that’s in a movie. Do you think in real life, you can make it work?

12.               If you live in a country where smartphone use is extremely common – South Korea (88%), Australia (77%), Israel (74%), the U.S. (72%) – you yourself are likely to be carrying one wherever you go and everywhere that you find yourself at, there are people all around you who also carry them. It looks like it’s not difficult for people to find and track you down. In other words, going incognito might already be very hard to achieve. Do you think that is true? What can you do to make yourself invisible for a protracted period of time? Or can’t that be achieved?