> The aim was to effectively keep a gun aimed at everyone
The aim was to make everyone believe there may be a gun pointed at them even if there wasn't. While that was relatively effective do you know what is even more effective? Actually having a gun pointed at everyone.
Having 500k Stasi informants and spies over its 50 years of existence is a far cry from being able to effectively spy on everyone all the time. And informants are notoriously unreliable due to a whole host of human failings, not least among them being that the people want to gain favor or at least not antagonize the state.
The modern surveillance state would make you inform on yourself via every device or communication channel you use, and at all times, with some human/AI combination making sure very little if anything is missed.
The aim was to make everyone believe there may be a gun pointed at them even if there wasn't. While that was relatively effective do you know what is even more effective? Actually having a gun pointed at everyone.
Having 500k Stasi informants and spies over its 50 years of existence is a far cry from being able to effectively spy on everyone all the time. And informants are notoriously unreliable due to a whole host of human failings, not least among them being that the people want to gain favor or at least not antagonize the state.
The modern surveillance state would make you inform on yourself via every device or communication channel you use, and at all times, with some human/AI combination making sure very little if anything is missed.