Thus the practical experts who employ scientific technique, and still more the governments and large firms which employ the practical experts, acquire a quite different temper from that of the men of science : a temper full of a sense of limitless power, of arrogant certainty, and of pleasure in manipulation even of human material. This is the very reverse of the scientific temper, but it cannot be denied that science has helped to promote it.
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Power is indispensable for maintaining social order and driving progress, yet once its checks loosen, it can run wild in an instant. Big data and AI share the same dual nature: while they make our lives more convenient, they also conceal processes we are apt to overlook.
Take surveillance satellites and facial-recognition systems. With them, virtually anyone on Earth can be tracked in real time. In fact, both the United States and China have reportedly treated undocumented people and certain minorities as populations to be "managed," leading in some cases to detention and even killings.
This is not just a distant problem. Closer to home, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal showed how tens of millions of psychological profiles could be fed into targeted political advertising, nudging public opinion below the waterline of awareness.
The more dazzled we are by convenience, the more quietly these excesses advance. That is why we must keep asking ourselves where benefit ends and danger begins, and never relax our vigilance over power and technology, otherwise, our freedoms may be eroded before we realize it.
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