Here We Go Again

The Never-Ending Merry-Go-Round of Technological Impositions

My husband is telling me about a report he just heard on the radio about insurance companies. Seems they have started to offer discounts for those of us willing to strap on a wearable device that connects back to them. Why? So that they can harvest our data in the service of monitoring us. Those of us making “healthy” choices will be monetarily rewarded for being such good global citizens.

The phrase, “Here we go again,” loops over and over in my mind.

Here we go again… allowing ourselves to be led down some path that has got nothing to do with health, and everything to do with profit, and ultimately control.

Here we go again…being convinced by huge corporations that they are benevolent benefactors considering us and what we need, when in fact, the reverse is true.

Here we go again… being nudged along into something none of us asked for, and that in all likelihood, will come with “unforeseen” blowback.

Here we go again… putting a machine between us and our bodies, while we grow ever more accustomed to living at a distance from ourselves because of it.

Here we go again…allowing the line of privacy to be moved in the wrong direction, while personal data harvesting speeds along at a record pace.

Here we go again…justifying the use of a new technology without including the very real and very present harms it is already bringing to us.

Here we go again… imbuing the technologies with super powers that we have been convinced far exceed our own capacity to know what to do and what is good for us.

Here we go again…choosing short term monetary savings over privacy and sovereignty.

Here we go again. Here we go again. Here we go again.

Round and round it goes. Where it stops nobody knows. Only. Some people do know. Some people do know exactly what this is robbing us of in terms of freedom, sovereignty, personal choice, peace of mind and all of those things no conscious people should ever willingly let go of. Our bodies are serving as ground zero for this theft. Commodifying the body is one of the most dangerous things we can do when it comes to what a human being needs, and who it is that is in charge of those needs.

As in, do you actually want a machine, orchestrated by a faceless corporation, telling you what it means to be healthy? And are you willing to accept that what can be used as a reward, can be used as a punishment?

A storm is brewing, and it’s got all of our names on it. If this seems dark, just imagine how dark it will be after we have all, one way or another, given up our personal health metrics to save a buck. How dark it will be when we have agreed to, or been mandated to, be hooked up to a machine for all kinds of “good” reasons. Perhaps darkest of all, how dark will it be, to have a device implanted within you for constant monitoring?

All done in the name of convenience, safety and progress.

**If you would like an extended reflection on the blog, go to the 3:20 minute mark on the audio above.