My Feed

The feed in the book is very controlling of its owner and manipulates its owner in the way of what products are displayed even though it says that the products shown match the interests of the owner. Their feed is also biologically attached to their brain which means that the body depends on the feed functioning for the rest of the body to properly work. This connection of an imperfect technology to a vital part of the human body caused the rest of the body to actually decay while they were still very well alive.

I actually like the general idea of the feed, but I think it needs to be scaled back a lot. For starters, the method of how the feed is used would need to be changed dramatically. Instead of the feed being implanted into your brain and having it make an actual biological connection with the body, it would be very similar to the Google glasses, or contacts for those who want the feed to be esthetically pleasing. The main advantage to this above all other things is that the user is in control and the feed can be taken off at any time and should be taken off at least when the user goes to bed. The feed would be able to register what the user wants by a high tech retina scanner that can tell what you want to happen on the “screen” in front of you. Also, as an improvement from the Google glasses, they would be able to sense the environment around you and if something was going to happen (ie you running into another person if you continued on your course) then all of the windows would minimize, leaving a clear screen to allow you to reassess your environment.

The things that would be displayed on the feed would also be slightly different. First of all, everything in your field of vision that you don’t know is just going to pop up on your screen with an explanation; if you see something that you don’t understand, you’ll just have to Google it. Also, instead of constantly being spammed with advertisements, there would actually be very few displayed on your screen, and they also wouldn’t immediately appear on your screen, but instead appear as a notification in a corner of the screen for you to view later. The advertisements that you do receive would be only the select few that the user allows and enjoys, and the user can discontinue any advertisement streams at any time they want. The rest of the feed would function similar to any smart phones that are available now, just contained within the feed. 

Spies

            Spies have been present in society ever since there have been two opposing viewpoints. The purpose of a spy is to retrieve information from one side and to bring it back to the other side. Now, being a spy isn't that simple, they have to do it all without being caught. They first have to infiltrate enemy lines by blending in and not sticking out even in the slightest. Then they have to work their way up the ranking system of whatever they are spying on until they reach the point where they have access to the information that they are trying to get. Finally, the information has to be passed back to the original side so that the information can be used, and all of this needs to be done without ever getting caught in order for the information to be successfully passed on and used.

            There have been countless spies in the real world. There have been good spies, and terrible spies as well as famous spies and spies that no one will ever hear about. These spies also completed, or in some cases didn't, missions that ranged from very short to very long and missions that were ranked from low importance to extremely high importance. One of the most famous spies is Nathan Hale. Nathan Hale was a spy for the Continental Army that spied on the British Army while they were stationed in New York. This famous first spy for what would become the United States of America is most known for his phrase uttered just before he was hung by the British. This famous phrase was “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

            Spies in 1984 are slightly different than those in the real world. First of all, their title is not a spy, but yet something that is much more confusing in nature, the thought police. Second, their intended target is not truly the enemy, but instead the target is controlling the government’s own people. Finally, the intended result of the spying is not to get a leg up on the opponent, but instead to shut down any unwanted ideas from floating around against the government. The three main similarities between the real world spies and the thought police are that they alter themselves in some way whether that be physically or through personality, that information is taken from one group by another without consent, and that the main purpose of the spying is to make the government be stronger and have more control over something.