WSJ features speculative fiction

It's rare to have speculative fiction featured in the Wall Street Journal. But obviously Cory Doctorow's short story struck a chord with them. The focus of the interview is on the Big Brother aspects that Doctorow features in the story. Central to the discussion are the threats and plausibility of misuse inherent in the Web user information gathered by Google.

The author admits that his story is not a prediction so much as a scenario. To me it's more of a warning on what we should keep in check as our information age progresses. With each new model of information exchange, new possibilities for privacy abuse crop up...it's an important aspect to monitor.

After all, we do rush headlong into adoption of new technologies. As Ferris Bueller said: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Technology moves pretty fast as well, if we don't stop and think about it once in a while, we could change things for the worst.

Check out the Wall Street Journal article and read Doctorow's story in Radar Magazine. They're both good food for thought.