Panopticon
Designed in the 18th-century by British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the founder of modern utilitarianism, a panopticon is a combo physical structure/control system based on the concept of induced paranoia
1
. Occupants of a panopticon are positioned in such a way as to be unable to tell if they are being watched. The term was traditionally most associated with Bentham's controversial prison design in which a towering concrete octagon of cells opens inward to a circular raised guard station encased in tinted glass
2
. However, throughout the 1980's, the term was adapted by many philosophers and social theorists to describe the disquieting onset of digital surveillance culture as employed by the
error
,
error
, and large techno-communications conglomerates like
error
.
1 Similar in flavor to the paranoia experienced by longtime users of narcotics and error drugs.
2 An early flaw in Bentham's design involved the visibility of cigarette cherries through even the darkest glass - an issue later mitigated with the development of electronic cigarettes, or, as they are colloquially known, vapes.
<img alt="Illustration from the haunting perspective of a panopticon cell. A figure lies prostrate before you, head bowed toward the watch-tower. There are dozens of identical cell windows lining the walls around it." class="wikiImg" src="/static/images/wiki/panopticon-img.jpg"/>