Have you noticed that the WeChat circle of friends is a bit "fever-free"?
This "May Day" small holiday, many people take the initiative to be in an "offline" state, even if they travel, they are not as "crazy as the screen brush" in the past, and they are engaged in the "Circle of Friends Photography Contest".
Maybe we already feel the burden of information and realize the problem, but we really can't completely quit "social platforms". Because most of our lives have already stayed online.
On April 28, a new film "The Cirle" was released in North America, and the first reaction of many viewers after watching it was - do I really need so many electronic devices and social accounts? Isn't it time to force yourself to be "offline" for a while every day?
"The Circle" tells the story of how people cope with this new challenge in a world monopolized by the Internet, after the barriers between groups and individuals, openness and privacy are removed, social relations change.
It sounds like a science fiction movie, but when you think about it, how do you think about it: Isn't this life right now?
Based on Dave Eggers' 2013 novel of the same name, The Circle is a story of black irony that will not only give you a taste of George Orwell, Swift, and Voltaire, but even some of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."
Mae Holland (Emma Watson), 24, has found the job of her dreams.
Circle is a Facebook and Google-style Internet giant that makes a lot of money from advertising, and every young person is eager to work here after graduation.
For Mae, it's like paradise: the 400-acre corporate campus is like a Disneyland of the tech era – fully open office space, towering glass-clear restaurants, huge organic gardens, famous musicians performing on the lawn, picnic areas, tennis courts, sophisticated modern décor, meticulously designed details... It's like a revolution in company culture, representing a whole new era.
▲ The picture above is the circle company park, and the picture below is apple's "spaceship" park under construction, is it the same?
Mae's college roommate, Anne, has joined the company's 40-person core management, reporting directly to the three founders of The Circle. This "three sages" are the "big guys" who determine the company's new products and business direction.
The core value of Circle is "full transparency", and its social products connect users' personal emails, social media, bank accounts, shopping and various operating systems. Circle Company advocates a fully open and transparent ecology based on "online real identity". (Sound familiar?) ）
In less than a month, Mae has mastered the "trick" to improving performance, that is, to increase the "sense of participation".
She quickly moved into the situation: posting on the company's social forums day and night, attending community events, weekend concerts, theme nights, and saving time by living in the company's dorm room for employees who didn't have time to go home.
At this time, the Circle Company officially released their "killer" project, SeeChange (Witness Change).
Users register as "Truyou" and broadcast their lives live at any time through a high-quality camera (ball) that can be uploaded by satellite to the SeeChange platform through a very low-cost, battery-capable 2-year battery that can be uploaded to the SeChange platform in real time. (Isn't that more familiar?) ）
▲ Small dome camera, excellent performance, is it soon we can buy in reality?
Like every honest young Internet user, Mae is brave enough to change her lifestyle with new technologies. In opening up her life to SeeChange, she not only found that the data she uploaded would never be deleted; she also felt that her relationship with the people around her was becoming more and more strange.
SeeChange set off a cultural trend in the whole society, from entrepreneurs to politicians, began to register "Truyou" and join the live broadcast; the first to join the dividends, get super high attention and the ensuing fame and fortune; subsequently, the government required the virtual world "Truyou" and the real identity in reality to be closely matched for monitoring, so that the circle company's business has developed by leaps and bounds.
The motto of the founder of Circle Company is:
"Secrets are lies, caring is sharing, privacy is stealing."
In order for the "circle" to be completed satisfactorily, the company's new goal becomes: the entire process should be completely open and transparent for all people from birth to death.
"Knowing" is a good thing, "knowing it all" is better.
The cast of the entire film is very "geek friendly": the CEO of the circle company that combines "Jobs" and "Zuckerberg" is interpreted by the familiar "Langdon Professor" Tom Hanks.
Her boyfriend is Emma Watson of "Silicon Valley Geeks" as the heroine Mae; John Boyega, a black actor who came out on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, plays Kalden, the mysterious technology founder of Circle Company; and Patton Oswalt, the "clone" of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., plays another core member of the company, Tom.
The timing of "Circle" is interesting: the United States has just taken office as a "reality TV star" president pushed out by television networks and social media; the unresolved Russian hacking problem has stirred the most sensitive nerves of Americans; Uber's business strategy and culture are controversial; the media is keen to discuss whether artificial intelligence will build a "Skynet" and send terminators to wipe out humanity; people worry about whether they will be a string of mobile and privacyless numbers in the eyes of giants; vr pornography is getting worse...
"Digital culture", from the initial "positive energy of sunshine" has become a bit of an abomination, and film and television dramas also show this concern.
"Geek Culture" masterpiece "Social Network", Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed as a narcissist, the biggest reason for creating Facebook is that Harvard girls are reluctant to date him.
In the 2015 movie "Jobs", "The Apple Godfather" was interpreted as a neurotic angry youth.
The sexy artificial intelligence in "HER" makes people shudder every time they hear Siri or Alexa's voice.
Amazon's artificial intelligence semantic recognition hardware is intended to become the control center of people's lives
Recently, the fourth season of HBO's "Silicon Valley" has just opened, and this American drama has shaped the image of "Silicon Valley" entrepreneurs into a bunch of "stupid people have stupid fortunes" of two hundred and five.
▲ In order to promote the new season of "Silicon Valley", the main actors went to Google to record an issue of "Talks@Google", which made me embarrassed and was not recommended
The real question is whether these films are dark enough for people to think hard and reflect on their attitudes and ways of dealing with technology.
The movie "Circle" raises the big question of "man's rights in the digital age": How much sacrifice do we have to make in order to enjoy the richness of technology? Worth it?
The author of the novel "Circle" writes: "In the past we had the option to "withdraw from social platforms", but now it is over; it is a nightmare of technological monopolism, everyone will be tracked, and how your data will be used is unknown, from cradle to grave, there is no possibility of escape.
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