30-years on

In 1984 the Orwellian prophetic version did not materialize. That year saw the Mac commercial at Superbowl half-time (down with Big Brother).
I guessed the underdog was supposed to be Apple Computer (later “Computer” got dropped because Apple wanted to diversify its product), and Big Brother, IBM.
Now, we face the NSA vs Snowden (remember Salmon Rushdie and the prize on his head?).
The system vs single person, on the run, as fictionally depicted in Harrison Ford in the Fugitive or Robert Redford in 3 Days of the Condor. Paranoid and plot (conspiracy theory).
Never before a person is empowered with that much computing power, yet,  he/she gives up his/her privacy so willingly.
People voluntarily upload their own sex acts onto free sites, hence blurring the public-private divide.
We have been around for centuries, lived, learned, loved and left artifacts and artworks (evidence that we did exist at a moment in time).
Only now that someone’s behind-closed-door scenes come digitally behind our closed-door (no more XXX theater and its incognito audience).
2014 bears no special marks, unlike 1984 or 2000 (Y2K). So we look back to the invention of the Mac, the Orwellian anniversary, and the stock market exuberance (which crashed in 1987).
30 years is just a blink of an eye. More kids in the family, divorce and bankruptcy, disruption and distraction.
Friendship is put to the test. Passion and hobby as well. I have a close friend. He used to be into bowling. Now, flying remote toy airplanes.
Changing spouses and changing games.
Nobody bothers to question the evolution of technology which lately has accelerated and clustered. After all, we are just consumers and users. Leave the debate to Congress and the EU. Spectrum and sine waves, signals and sound. Yet, those right-of-ways are inelastic. Can’t be expanded forever (dark fiber).
So year to year, we hope against hope that next year is going to be better, if not in the US, then in China (after all, it’s a global world now). Forget NAFTA and how devastated the Mexico economy has become. Just move on to Trans-Pacific Partnership, ETA etc.. Ink some more deals and pay the advice fees. Those who are in the middle actually benefit the most regardless. The poor? Oh well, they will always be with us. At least, the new Pope realizes this, having cooked his own meal and taken a bus to work. I thought we would have developed better capacity for empathy by now, given three decades since the advent of “personal” computer. Are we going to leave that (empathy) to the machine as well?
At this rate, the only attention we get might be from our own invention, to memorize, to think and someday, to feel in our place (in Japan, senior care is outsourced to robot-nurse). 3,000 years on, archaeologist digs will turn up many pieces of machinery, from mainframe to mac, from dumb terminal to smart phone.
I wonder what else will be out there then, that can truly represent us – our imprints and impression (machines tend to “clone” themselves with each step in the AI evolution chain.) No wonder Van Goh and Picasso still command large sums at auction. Orwellian world did not come about in 1984 or 2014. It’s already existed way before due to our weak nature – wanting to follow the crowd, embracing the system at the cost of our inalienable rights to pursue happiness in our terms.