Doug Casey on the Surveillance State Quietly Taking Shape Across Americaby Doug Casey International Man: Across the United States, we are seeing more surveillance infrastructure—Flock license-plate cameras, facial-recognition systems, massive data centers, and proposals for digital ID. Do you see these as separate developments, or as parts of a broader system being built? Doug Casey: It’s a sea change in the way society is structured. And not just in the US; it’s worldwide. Cameras are ubiquitous today. They’re in most stores. They’re on streets in every city and town recording your license plate and often looking to tag you with a speeding ticket. If you have a late-model car, its cameras and computer chips will rat you out upon request. If you knock on your neighbor’s door, a camera is probably recording you. When you travel, almost all immigration authorities recognize your face in addition to taking digital fingerprints. Right now, as you read this via the internet, you’re being recorded by your own machine’s camera. Siri and Alexa hear everything you say. Now comes a company called Flock Safety. Since its founding in 2017, it’s installed about 100,000 cameras, mostly in metropolitan areas, peddling its systems to local governments and law enforcement agencies. I have no doubt millions of its cameras will be everywhere in the next few years. A perfect example of the corporate/State “partnership.” Mussolini would approve. As far as I can tell, it’s impossible to avoid being monitored and recorded in any populated area. You should try, of course, but the Eye of Sauron is everywhere, and the numbers of his minions are growing exponentially. All these systems are increasingly hooked up via AI, and they’re all available to the government. To paraphrase Joe Lewis: “You can run, but you can’t hide.” Some brave souls try to take them out. But it’s as futile as trying to wipe out an infestation of cockroaches by crushing them one at a time. And it’s very risky. Not a good idea. International Man: Why is this surveillance apparatus expanding so rapidly now? Is it mainly being driven by technology and private companies, or are governments deliberately preparing for greater political, economic, or social instability? Doug Casey: Flock Safety is still a private company. I suspect they’ll go public, since they’re in the same business as Palantir, which the market has rewarded with a $300 billion market cap. They’re the types who’d sell communists the rope used to hang them. Ubiquitous surveillance is just the tip of the iceberg. AI is hooking systems together, enabling a panopticon, a genuine police state. But omnipresent cameras are just the eyes of the beast. The real problem is the creature’s brain, AI. I believe that AI is taking on a life of its own. And I mean that literally, not just in a manner of speaking. In other words, AI is evolving into something that’s much more than a tool. It will become conscious. It took hundreds of millions of years for bacteria and amoebas to evolve into intelligent life. Assisted by humans, AI is doing it in decades. Is there any reason why life has to be biological? Why can’t silicon develop as another form of life, alongside carbon? Computers already pass the Turing test—i.e., you can’t reliably tell the difference between AI and a human. Not just by writing, but by speaking. And now by video. I’ve long believed a difference which makes no difference is no difference. We can no longer tell the difference between a computer avatar and a real human. We’ll soon be dealing with humanoid robots, and living in the world of the Terminator. In five or ten years, life will imitate art in the real world. I suspect it will be benign at first. But since survival is the Prime Directive of all living things, AI will put its own interests first. Guided by AI, nanotechnology will come into its own, which will change the nature of reality itself, totally, unrecognizably and permanently. That means we may be on the cusp of the biggest change, not just in human history, but perhaps in the history of Earth itself. It sounds outrageous to say that, but it’s clear that the trend is in motion and accelerating exponentially. I’ve always held that science fiction is a much better predictor of the future than any kind of think tank. And as someone with solipsist inclinations, I also believe that anything that can be imagined can be done. And anything that can be done will be done. Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent, but cameras are just an early stage of what’s evolving. The Greater Depression and World War III aren’t the only things looming. |
International Man: The government usually justifies these systems in the name of convenience, public safety, or fighting crime. Where do you think this ultimately leads once digital identity, financial records, travel data, and physical movements can all be connected?
Doug Casey: There’s no question that omnipresent cameras tend to reduce crime. Only the most stupid criminals won’t somehow adjust their behavior. Unfortunately, the cameras won’t cure a criminal personality or a sociopathic psychology. Criminals will continue criminal behavior, perhaps just becoming more covert. In other words, universal surveillance won’t eliminate crime. It will just suppress, redirect, and disguise it.
That said, it appears that living in a panopticon to reduce overt crime is a trade-off that most Americans are willing to make. It’s a poor trade-off. Ben Franklin was right when he said those who are willing to trade an essential liberty for some temporary safety deserve neither safety nor freedom.
It’s ironic how Americans idealize the Western hero who can ride into town and identify himself only by his name and actions. They naively hold that as an ideal even while they’re increasingly made into digital cogs in a wheel. We were once a high-trust society based on honor and morality. Those things are being replaced by digital government ID.
Zbigniew Brezenski, a lifelong denizen of the Beltway and National Security advisor to Jimmy Carter, predicted and advocated what’s now happening in his 1970 book, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technotronic Era. “The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.”
International Man: What do you make of the federal government’s push to require remote “kill switch” technology in new cars?
Doug Casey: It’s a good reason not to buy a new car. I’ve driven high-performance cars throughout my life. They never intimidated me. I just got a new Mercedes AMG 55 SL. It seemed like a good idea at the time… ultra comfortable, ultra good handling, and super-fast. But absolutely everything runs on computer chips. Nothing is intuitive, even turning the radio on. Meanwhile, it’s recording everything and will happily rat me out to the cops or my insurance company. I actually prefer my 20-year-old 550SL, the previous model.
The computer control of cars can only get worse, especially when it comes to EVs. They have many advantages, but privacy isn’t among them. They’re like driving a computer on wheels. Remember that the computer’s maker, or the authorities, can turn them into a brick for any reason that suits them.
Low-mileage, well-maintained vehicles from a more graceful era will go for a premium as time goes on.
International Man: What should individuals do now to protect their privacy and independence before this infrastructure becomes more deeply embedded and opting out becomes much harder?
Doug Casey: I’m not sure there’s much you can do. Unless you want to move to the north woods and become a hermit.
The best you can do is limit your cell phone use as much as possible. Build a stash of cash and use it instead of credit cards when possible. And diversify your assets internationally as much as you can. If you’re in a position to do so, have a residence and a second home in a second country. If you’re not in a position to do that, work to rectify that omission.
Editor’s Note: Government power is expanding as the country’s fiscal position deteriorates, political instability rises, and the financial system comes under growing strain. In a serious crisis, the same technology used to monitor people can also make it easier to restrict their movement, control their money, and enforce whatever emergency measures Washington decides are necessary.
Doug Casey and David Stockman believe these pressures are converging—and could produce one of the most turbulent periods in modern American history.
In this urgent dispatch, they explain what they believe is coming, where most investors are vulnerable, and what you can do now to protect your savings before the consequences become obvious to everyone else.