Just a curiosity: Do you think we, as a civilized world, are moving towards a world where, thanks to Internet, media, etc., criminality doesn't exist, but also, where privacy doesn't exist?

Read this book link

David Brin wrote about this exact question 21 years ago. I’m not going to recap the whole book for you, because it is well worth your time to read it.

Quick summary: there is no such thing as privacy.

I don’t understand how anyone viewing the current landscape might conclude that technology advances must lead to a reduction in crime. If anything, the technology itself expands both the opportunities and motivations for criminal enterprises.

@stanleybmanly: I mean if actually privacy doesn’t exist.

I don’t really see the correlation between reduction of crime and increasing lack of privacy.

@janbb Maybe the op is talking about an oppressive police state lowering crime.

So you’re asking “If technology advances to the point that none of us can have secrets, will crime be eliminated?”

Clearly, privacy must vanish, but crime, particularly crimes of passion will always be with us. If you add the compulsive sociopaths to the mix, you must quickly conclude that while a reduction in crime might be plausible, its elimination is impossible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)
Criminality will still exist where one has power over others.
Otherwise who would correct the group in power?
There is always one or more who will eventually turn to crime themselves when welding too much control over the masses, since they have no police over them?

A world without privacy, yes.
Without crime? Never.

It would screw with the balance of things. The ordinary citizens would revolt.

No, absolutely not.

But, thanks to the probability of continued mass extinctions and catastrophic climate change, we may be moving towards a world where criminality doesn’t exist because civilization and/or humanity doesn’t exist, but privacy abounds.

Also, to my sense of morality, privacy violations are and always will be crimes.

First of all, have you ever seen “Soylent Green?”
If anything we are moving towards self annihilation. And soon! Within 250 years, by my generous estimation.
Crime will exist in greater and greater extremes, and privacy will become more and more non-existent. It’s the nature of the beast.

Read Brave New World, if you have not read it recently then re-read it. Nobody in control will give a fuck about surveillance when everyone is drugged up, pacified and pursuing non stop entertainment and distractions. The surveillance tech will be there but they won’t need to bother with it. Huxley got it right IMO.

With cell phones and the internet and entertainment run amok, I am reminded of a drawing I saw once of a future world where everyone wore a helmet that had a screen for the person wearing it to observe the world by. It showed a perfect, beautiful world of blue skies, green grass, and un-littered streets, etc. But outside the helmet’s screen the world, in reality, was just the opposite.

It is admittedly wishful thinking, but I can envision an analog revolt. It will start with the establishment of digital-free zones using jamming to keep out intruders. At some point people are going to be fed up with the digitization of everything and just want to experience the world in its original analog form.

No.

I feel without a clear moral compass the ‘world’ is slowly sailing off course by being misguided by consumerism. The ‘world’ seems to be losing its perspective on balance. When any one weight is tilted too much to one side, it’s gonna capsize. That’s my 3-pound opinion. ;-)

@LostInParadise
I think that will happen when the overuse of power will cause a breakdown of power thus NO digital devices will work and back to square one , I suspect?

What the internet has done is expanded the opportunities for criminality beyond the wildest dreams of those previously excluded from the “business” through poverty or destitution. The net has democratized both crime and criminals and provided “opportunities” hitherto undreamed of to millions.

Just think about the fact that a peasant living on scraps in India, Nigeria or Belarus is now able to clean out the bank account of a typical overfed American. Now that’s progress!”