From the Desk of Kiler Davenport

George Orwell did not write 1984 as a book about Jeremy Bentham. But the world of 1984 contains a principle Bentham would have recognized immediately. You do not need to know whether you are being watched. You need to know that you could be . The Telescreen Orwell's telescreen collapses the distance between surveillance and ordinary life. Observation enters the home. That represents an important development in the Panopticon's evolution. Bentham's prisoner entered a surveillance institution. Orwell's citizen lived inside one. There was no meaningful boundary between the institution and everyday existence. That distinction is enormous. The Panopticon surrounds the prisoner. Orwell surrounds society. The Psychological Objective Both systems understand something fundamental about human behavior. Certainty is unnecessary. Possibility can be enough. People behave differently when observation might be occurring. They choose words differently. They select companions differen...