An example of a “imagined future” takes place in George Orwell’s novel 1984. Although, we are way passed the 1900’s Orwell’s novel is interesting in many ways. First of all he published this book in 1948 and imagined his own vision of what the world would look like in 36 years. Orwell imagined this dystopian society where everything seems at ease and organized but is that really the case? The novel’s only prominent protagonist, Winston Smith realizes that society is not normal at all. Everything is controlled by a force termed, ‘big brother’. Big brother is never seen but is the party leader. The most famous line from the books is “big brother is watching you”. Winston realizes that he is trapped in a surveillance society where everything is recorded and seen and there is no privacy.
Now this is interesting because what Orwell imagined is very common with today’s society. With all the social media and technology that we have today as compared to 1984 or 1948 is tremendous. Our entire lives are almost spent on social media and this can be a tricky thing. Anyone can see what we do, we may think that our private browsing is kept “private” but that is not the case. In terms of surveillance, we have cameras on almost every street corner, in schools, in offices…etc. You can go on google maps and search and address and actually see it on your screen. It’s amazing how accurate Orwell was in terms of what he imagined to be our future. It may just be me but I do believe the government is big brother and the government can see everything that we do.
