Have you ever come across the term “Satisfice” ?

It comes alive when we combine the words Sacrifice + Satisfaction.

It is an expression that is used to refer to the decisions we are called to make, when we pursue a goal, that will require the minimum amount of constraints ( sacrifice ), to achieve a certain level of satisfaction.

Maybe this etymology sound too scientific for you, but given the fact that the tech explosion has become a well-inhabited part of our lives, so much that we can’t even remember what it was like living and working without the instant comfort of smartphones and super  intelligent search engines, it is a term we all should have on the speed dial of our smarter-than- life phones.

Perhaps this post can provoke some pivotal thinking.

Maybe a state of totalitarian surveillance movement sounds like a farfetched idea at the moment, but are we really in a position to act stoic about it ; are we truly in a safe distance from a scenario like this ? Image a near future where the citizens of democratic republics would be treated as social security numbers, according to their social monthly score, on a scale of zero to ten, from threat to obedient (good) citizens. The last time man became a number among numbers was during World War in concentration camps, where they too, were collecting data in a way, by keeping track of who was efficient enough for the ongoing projects.

In a time of fast fashion, fast food, and fast love, can we afford to make fast decisions, exclusively based on data?

Can we trust an AI – Artificial Intelligence machine to make the decisions for our future, excluding the aspects of ethos, empathy, and morals? Can a built up machine learn to feel for its “father” or would it turn against its creator, if the incoming and processed data indicated that would be for the greater good ? Would you agree with a choice that is within the legal boundaries but it is not that clear if it is crossing any ethical lines?

This might sound too dystopian or futuristic for you, but it is already happening on a smaller scale. Everyone seems to be happy to share their facial features on any social application, as long as this will provide them with some simulated excitement that they are being part of our social media culture. How many people would exchange their facial symmetries and analogies, for the best photoshop-like filter available, without being aware that our traces on the internet never really go away, even if we delete our social media or email or any other e-service account?

At the height of our technology leisure, data has become the most valuable resource, so much that databrokers claim that selling data will be more profitable than oil. It is one of the most promising resources , that we tend to give away with our permission, at least most of the time, as long as we keep enjoying the privileges of high technology resolutions. We are giving up our privacy rights without actually realizing what we are doing and the effect this can have on us if this amount of personal information would find its way at the hands of an immoral person.

Maybe it’s about time to start reading between the lines of what’s happening all around us and in a short version, beware when a stranger offers you candy.

What about you? Does this monopoly – fear of security have you ?

Has the industrial marketing persuaded and reassured you enough that your home devices need to be smarter than you, so that the collected data of the listening smart techs, can make a case that you are guilty, until proven innocent, of a crime of thoughts or beliefs , or perhaps there could be built up evidence that you are a “possible threat” to the forcefull peace of a fascistic society?

Are you convinced yet that your satisfaction is on the top of the pyramid of your needs and what are you willing to sacrifice for your own pleasure ?

Or are you of one of the optimists ones, that believe we stand a chance to fight this monster, without having to mimic its abilities?