Off The Grid: Orwellian Future Is Imminent, Harvard Professors Say

Last Thursday while speaking at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland, Harvard University computer science professor Margo Seltzer warned of an Orwellian future with DNA-harvesting mosquito-sized robots, operating in an all encompassing surveillance police state.

"Privacy as we knew it in the past is no longer feasible… How we conventionally think of privacy is dead,” Seltzer said.

Sophia Roosth, another Harvard researcher who presented at the conference, agreed that this Orwellian future is already upon us.

“We are at the dawn of the age of genetic McCarthyism, invasions of privacy are going to become more pervasive. It’s not whether this is going to happen, it’s already happening… We live in a surveillance state today,” Roosth said.

Anthony Goldbloom, a tech entrepreneur who has massive contracts with NASA, said during a different panel that he isn't very concerned with privacy, and is willing to give his up for convenience.

“I trade my privacy for the convenience.  Privacy is not something that worries me," said Goldbloom.  "Anyway, people often behave better when they have the sense that their actions are being watched."

Did you cringe when you read that? Because I certainly did! 

I wonder if Goldbloom is familiar with Albert Einstein, who was once quoted as saying:  "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal. Who is wielding the axe? And who are the pathological criminals?"

- Jen H., The Off The Grid Team

Do you think privacy has gone the way of the dodo bird for good?  Is NSA surveillance just the tip of the iceberg?  From drones to government tracking, find out what led Jesse Ventura to live off the grid: