Surveillance replaces God’s total knowledge as an inescapable observer

Evidence

This is the meaning of the hand and glove. The closed loop and the tight fit are meant to create the conditions of no exit. Once, it was no exit from God’s total knowledge and power. Today, it is no exit from the others, from Big Other, and from the surveillance capitalists who decide. This condition of no exit creeps on slippered feet. First we do not even have to look away, and later we cannot. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1499

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the panopticon lineage and the ‘no exit’ theme; connects to dystopian fiction like Zamyatin’s We and the ‘no exit’ idea in Sartre. — connects to: Google’s founders frame total surveillance as the logical path to a perfected society — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1274; Monotheistic all-seeing gods predate and exceed surveillance-state observation — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 182; Surveillance states require trusted impartiality to substitute for religious Big Gods (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Monotheistic all-seeing gods predate and exceed surveillance-state observation #corroborates (0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 182
• Gods and governments serve interchangeable functions of surveillance, comfort, and control #corroborates (0.80)
• Surveillance states require trusted impartiality to substitute for religious Big Gods #expands (0.75)