The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience." Bentham himself described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example"

Originally Posted by GrimJack

Is the world becoming a Panopticon?

Do you behave differently when you know there is a camera around?

Anybody from the UK where cctv is omnipresent -- does the knowledge that you are under observation whenever you are out in 'the commons' affect how you behave?

If you thought that your neighbors (the police, members of your church, total strangers) might be watching you, would you behave differently?

Anybody from the UK where cctv is omnipresent -- does the knowledge that you are under observation whenever you are out in 'the commons' affect how you behave?

Originally Posted by hammerhead

>>Is the world becoming a Panopticon?

Maybe Europe or North America, but definitely not the world. The first step here would be to install functioning traffic lights. Cameras come after that.

There are 55 lakh (5.5 million) registered vehicles in the city, which is highest in world among all cities (within municipal limits), while the Delhi metropolitan region (NCT Delhi) has 112 lakh (11.2 million) motor vehicles[1], again highest in the world among all metropolitan regions. This adds significantly to city's traffic and pollution woes. Delhi and NCR lose nearly 42 crore (420 million) man-hour every month while commuting between home and office through public transport, due to the traffic congestion.[2].