Transparent Life

http://maps.google.com/

Has anyone seen the above? Go to that site, click on "Satellite" (images).

Enter your home address. Zoom in. Can you see your car in the driveway? Enter your work address. Enter your friend's address. Enter your last 4 addresses....its all there.

The implications of this are rather mind-boggling. This is the free version, the version that they are putting out for free, for general public use.

Obviously we are getting close to a place where we could have your entire life posted on real time video in a computer room somewhere. Save your entire life on a hard drive. The implications are staggering.
Not that anyone is really working that hard on this technology to push it forward.

I've read they currently have satellites cameras that have the ability to read a license plate from space, if it was facing up. What does this mean for humanity?

Could it bring us one step closer to an Orwellian world? How hard would it be to implant us with a mini-GPS chip, have a satellite with video camera track us, and record all actions on digital video somewhere? In fact, we could be tracking 6 billion people at once, and have all their movements posted to the Internet, real time.

We might not be able to do this at this very moment. But I don't think its much of a leap to think this is very doable within 10 years or so, should someone decide to devote the resources to it.

I am thinking this is a great tool.

But somehow if we are able to record our entire lifetime's movements, our entire earthly existence recordable 24/7-365 days/year, it seems like something is gained, but something is lost.

Its like: I suppose it was great when the entire "known world" was mapped, surveyed, staked out, etc. But then again, it seems like a little something was lost. A little room for mystery & myth was squeezed out. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.

Do you think having a camera that can watch us 24/7 and record all of our living activities will change the collective psyche of humanity?
Do we have a need for mystery that is being erased?

Like right now I have to use the bathroom. I hope they don't follow me in there. I'm not paranoid. Really. I'm not. They are!

Implications?