panopticon
All-seeing prison design
A panopticon is a prison designed so that a single guard can observe all inmates without them knowing whether they're being watched—a central tower surrounded by cells.
The concept, proposed by philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century, has become a metaphor for surveillance and social control: Social media has created a digital panopticon where everyone monitors everyone else.
Utilitarian ethics founder
- prisonConfinement for offenders
- circularForming a closed curve
- radialEmanating from center
- cellsBasic biological units
penitentiary · asylum · workhouse · watchtower · rotunda · galleries · wings · hub
Attentive watching or remark
- monitoringOngoing observation of something
- CCTVSurveillance camera network
- camerasVisual recording devices
- watchingActively looking at something
inspection · gaze · visibility · sightlines · unobstructed · one-way · guard · inmates
Trained self-control or specialty
- self-regulationManaging one's own behavior
- complianceAdhering to requirements
- internalizationAbsorbing ideas as one's own
- docilityReadiness to submit
behavior modification · coercion · punishment · reform · order · authority · power · subjugation
Formal communication on subjects
- subjectivityPersonal viewpoint coloring perception
- institutionalOf formal establishments
- carceralOf prisons
- normalizationAdjusting to a standard
social control · genealogy · critique · apparatus · regime
Totalitarian surveillance authority
- surveillance stateGovernment that watches all
- social mediaOnline content-sharing platforms
- data collectionSystematic accumulation of facts
- algorithmicFollowing programmed steps
privacy · Facebook · Google · NSA · whistleblower · Snowden · Orwellian · dystopia
Bentham
Utilitarian ethics founder
cells · penitentiary · asylum · workhouse · watchtower · rotunda · galleries · wings · hub · spokes
observation
Attentive watching or remark
- monitoringOngoing observation of something
- CCTVSurveillance camera network
- camerasVisual recording devices
watching · inspection · gaze · visibility · sightlines · unobstructed · one-way · guard · inmates · exposure
discipline
Trained self-control or specialty
- self-regulationManaging one's own behavior
- complianceAdhering to requirements
- internalizationAbsorbing ideas as one's own
docility · behavior modification · coercion · punishment · reform · order · authority · power · subjugation · conformity
discourse
Formal communication on subjects
- subjectivityPersonal viewpoint coloring perception
- institutionalOf formal establishments
- carceralOf prisons
normalization · social control · genealogy · critique · apparatus · regime
Big Brother
Totalitarian surveillance authority
- surveillance stateGovernment that watches all
- social mediaOnline content-sharing platforms
- data collectionSystematic accumulation of facts
algorithmic · privacy · Facebook · Google · NSA · whistleblower · Snowden · Orwellian · dystopia · totalitarian
- penal historyprison, prisons, gaols, jails, penitentiaries
- surveillancesurveillance, CCTV, security camera, surveillance camera, surveillance cameras
- French ThoughtDescartes, Sartre, Foucault, Derrida, Camus
- French sociologyanomie, collective conscience, collective consciousness, habitus, cultural capital
- technoethicsAI ethics, cyber ethics, robot rights, bioethics, content moderation
panopticonblind spot
Area of blocked perception
off-grid · underground · hiding place · sanctuary · safe house
pan, panorama, optical, optic, optics, optician, synoptic, optometry