Conspiracy at the ESRI Conference: Eye in the Sky
Friday, August 8th, 2008My participation in this year’s ESRI conference is over, but I must say I had a blast. It was overwhelming and interesting and re-ignited my passions for maps and other cartographic and geospatial technologies.
However, being someone who keeps track of conspiracy theories, I have to say that whoever chose “Eye in the Sky” by the Alan Parson Project for a theme for the Defense, Homeland Security and Intelligence Showcase runs counter to advocates of privacy in an era of ubiquitous computing and geospatial technologies. This is exactly what Alex Jones is taking about when discussing the concept of “hidden in plain sight” and provides him with a bit more mainstream credibility.
Though it may be a memorable song, the last time I heard it was when I saw Alan Parsons at Wolftrap in 2002. It is no coincidence that the song should be playing, especially considering that it is not difficult to decipher its meaning. The song itself is about 1984-esque themes of Government Control and spying on the public. Though I agree that intelligence gathering and defense related matters are as important as matters of social justice, environmental quality and urban planning, the choice of that song was in very poor taste.
Am I wrong here? Consider the chorus:
Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I dont need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind