Globalization and Technology

Technology and the Circle

Technology has taken over the world, and people are straining to keep up with the latest technological developments all across the world. The Circle is a science fiction film about technology. The film depicts a technological world in the near future. The film introduces a firm that deals with digital media, data collection and storage, as well as surveillance services. A lady named Mae is introduced to the company. She is not very interested in technological difficulties, but she is urged to participate in technology development by the firm’s founder. She is persuaded to participate in an experiment that puts her life on display. The test would later attract many friends from the social platforms all over the world; however, it would have severe negative impacts on her closest friends.

Globalization, Power, and Media

With the advancement in technology, companies are becoming more automated as they employ the latest techniques to increase their efficiency. The Circle is the world’s most powerful company dealing in technology, and social media is well placed regarding globalization (Rajagopal, 2014). Power and globalization happen altogether, implying that one has to happen to facilitate the other. Technology has reduced the entire world into a global village, and people are communicating with friends from distant regions just as the click of a button. Robust techniques are likely to expose more human beings to the dangers of cybercrimes

Mae and Technology

Mae, who was a recruit in the company was encouraged to take part in an experiment which could later attract more friends from the rest of the world and make her a celebrity. Her image alone had the power of bringing more people than she ever imagined. When technology connects people, it becomes easier to make new friends. As for Mae, all she needs is to post her image and receive many friend requests and comments. The simple task shows how the social media has the power of bringing people together and making them focus on one specific thing.

By posting her image, individuals from different parts of the world can view it, and those interested can leave a comment and download the copy. However, there has been controversy regarding the privacy of the person whose image is being posted. First, the close friends will be profoundly affected by such extreme disclosure of an individual’s privacy (Rajagopal, 2014). People are used to keeping their lives fresh, and thus technology and globalization have made sharing of information easier than before. Through sharing of crucial information, the privacy of an individual is breached. In the above case, the lady is willing to post her image and get many friends thus making her a celebrity within a short period.

Importance of Digitization and Networks

The modern world is driven by data which in many instances is stored electronically. As for the Circle Company, data is everything for the firm. The institution outlets extensive data ranging from financial, medical, social, and personal information. With the increasing need for better data storage methods, the company has developed an excellent storage system to store data for its clients (Garland, 2014, p. 372). As a result of digitization of various networks, the data can be shared by many networks thus impacting on the privacy and secrecy of the information. However, the stored data makes it easier to access individual’s personal information which is critical in decision making.

The modern world has become highly sophisticated that everything has been stored electronically. However, nobody knows who continually checks the information in the machines. The primary issue with the digitization process is the privacy of data. Mae has to expose her image to the rest of the world for her to be a celebrity thus undermining her privacy. The large data being stored by the company can be accessed by many people and therefore impact negatively on the privacy concerns. The firm knows everything that it requires to understand, and thus they can even locate people wherever they are using the information given.

With digitization, it is becoming easier to share information among individuals thus making everything more accessible. With the vast data stored by the Circle Company, a client who has lost some crucial information can call the company, and all the data is retrieved from the database. Data storage is, therefore, one of the latest phenomena in the technology industry which allows individuals to recover their data thus making it simpler for the parents. Digitation, therefore, helps in bringing large amounts of data together and managing them from one central point where it can be accessed easily. Digitation has the impact of increasing data security from damage while making it accessible to users.

Technology and the Self

There is a lot of technology that has to do with an individual. First, the technique was initiated by human beings, and they use it for various purposes. Technological advancement has both positive and negative effects on self, depending on the perspective from which it is viewed. As for Mae, she was not a technology person. However, her new job required her to keep posting information on social platforms. One primary question is about measuring the moral values with the importance of technology.

Mae is finding it difficult to fit into the new model where she is required to post her images online more often and attract friends. She is battling with herself, trying to balance between what is just for herself and the demands of the company she works for. Technology can, therefore, build or destroy oneself. There are critical aspects of oneself which must not be exposed to the rest of the world. Such elements include personal data which must remain a secret between the owner and a limited number of individuals. Even though technology helps individuals connect with friends across the world, it has come to ruin the image of others such as Mae who is made to display her vision to the whole world thus undermining her privacy. Mae who is still naïve is verbally attacked by her friends who believe that she should be engaging more on the social media. They term her as naïve and technologically backward, and she has to work hard on her social platform. The circle movie, therefore, shows that technology has come to expose humans to the world posing significant security threats to the lives of individuals.

Digital Sociality, Community, and Self-Identity

The Circle operates in a digital environment where large volumes of data are managed electronically. Mae has been given a role in the company which is likely to undermine her image in the society. There is the other part where she is to become a celebrity by posting her pictures, and there is the other conservative part of the community. By taking part in the experiment, she is giving in to the pressure to water down her image and self at the expense of becoming a celebrity. She has a picture also in the face of the community members, and she must also protect it. Technology has eroded the fabric of the society.

Digital media is also used to reveal the identity of an individual’s especially the celebrities. With the demographic data stored by the company, one can quickly get full details of an individual including their places of residence. Even though the digital media has been a power for creating awareness, the film uses technology to foretell what might befall human beings in the future. About the Circle movie, the future of technology offers two options. There is hope for better services as a result of research in the field of technology. However, there is a considerable risk arising from sharing of information which might lead to individual details getting into the wrong hands. The future of technology is scary as its advancement could result in more cybercrimes and related activities.

Dark Side of Technology

Even though technology has been instrumental in increasing the efficiency of various sectors, it has come with several shortcomings which must be addressed. Technology has increasingly controlled the minds of human beings to the extent that they cannot do without technology. Instead of technology reducing the time for work as a result of efficiency, other technologies such as Facebook and Twitter have reduced human beings to small machines. People rarely get free time to rest as they always spend time with their phones. Additionally, technological advancement has eroded the cultural fabric and replaced it with the less considerate minds. For a better response to these problems, it is imperative to revisit the cultural practices which promote ethics. One of them includes the virtue ethics by Aristotle (Bruni and Sugden, 2013, p. 157). The theory offers a better approach to ethics as it emphasizes on individual character as the cornerstone of ethical thinking.

Foucault’s theories of sovereign societies, disciplinary societies, and control societies offer a more excellent in-depth analysis of how our communities have evolved. According to Foucault, sovereign organizations which date back to 5th century and power was centralized where one person ruled as a king such as the Roman Empire (Berardi, 2009). The period changed leading to disciplinary societies in the early 16th century which had different institutions to control individuals. These organizations included the schools, prisons, and industries which were evident. There was the sovereign power; however, it was augmented by these institutions which were visible in during the colonial era in many British, American, and German societies. Finally, control societies came in the late 20th century where individuals were controlled through increased utilization of computers and digitalized structures such as CCTV. The management of life has, therefore, been in existence since the 5th century, however, with technological advancement, the current societies have been highly monitored. Just as in the circle where the company controls individual data, almost every step individuals make is closely watched.

The theory of digitality and modulation implies that digital is the source of all the modulation being witnessed around the world. The world of sound has increased the transformation of data from one form to another in a unique manner (Deleuze, 2013). For example, in advanced countries, information about people has been modulated, being transformed from one form to another. The use of fingerprints as a security feature is popular in many places. The concept of modulation relates to the circle in that all the data about people have been coded and can be transformed even from one machine to another, the same way the Circle company converts people’s data in their data banks.

Soul of Work

The section focuses on the reconfiguration of work as social labor, giving the three divisions of employment which include the immaterial, affective and the precarious labor. The three categories highlight the changes in professional practices and the nature of work in the current era of technological advancement. The immaterial labor is the section which offers the informational and cultural content of the society (Lazzarato, 2016). The immaterial labor concerns the use of higher skills of cybernetics and computerization. The affective work is highly concentrated on personal contact and interaction. In this regard, high-tech individuals found labor as the most critical parts of their lives, and thus they have personalized their jobs. In the process, workers have become more creative since most of the work is no longer mechanical but involves the cognitive abilities (Berardi, 2009). The theme of the soul at work is closely related to the circle in that the cognitive abilities have been increasingly engaged in ensuring constant surveillance of customers and getting feedback.

Furthermore, the theory of psychopathology of cognitive labor shows that human beings have reduced to machine-like creatures. Their lives have become increasingly filled with fear and panic. The feeling of being monitored throughout has created a lot of fear (Berardi, 2009). Also, workers have been obsessed with the satisfaction of customers, becoming more involved in phone calls and the long run, their lives get wired to technology. The theory relates to the Circle in that the company’s employees are always involved in monitoring customers’ data; hence, they are linked to the technologies being used in the business, and thus too much exposure to the technologies make them behave like machines.

Conclusion

After the entire review, one question remains, what sort of society do people want? The movie gives an account of how it is to share too much information about one’s life and the impacts of such actions. As for Mae, her image, even though she became a celebrity, those around her were affected by the fact that they could bump into her pictures on the social platforms. People who value privacy would argue that technology has taken away their privacy. Those individuals who say technological advancement believe that it has helped in bringing people together and making life more enjoyable through sharing of information.

Reference

Berardi, F., „Bifo “(2009): The Soul at Work. From Alienation to Autonomy. Los Angeles: Semiotext (e).

Bruni, L. and Sugden, R., 2013. Reclaiming virtue ethics for economics. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(4), pp.141-163.

Deleuze, G., 2013. Cinema II: the time-image. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Garland, D., 2014. What is a “history of the present”? On Foucault’s genealogies and their critical preconditions. Punishment & Society, 16(4), pp.365-384.

Lazzarato, M., 2016. nd General intellect: Towards an inquiry into immaterial labour. Emery, E. trans.

Rajagopal, I., 2014. Does the Internet shape a disciplinary society? The information-knowledge paradox. First Monday, 19(3).