After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made

by Ben Rhodes

With more advances in technology, the Party is trying to reach a new reality. She summed up the goal this way: “We are able to predict dissent before it occurs and crack down on it, and completely reengineer people’s identity and thoughts.” Just as the Party placed a bet after Tiananmen that they could embrace capitalism but not democracy, they’re now placing a bet that responding to people’s wants and desires in some areas can erase their wants and desires for other things—like politics. This is done by harnessing technologies that are similar to those that help Amazon predict what I might want to buy while nudging me in certain directions. Maya described this as “creating the kind of new society where the Party serves the people so well that people no longer feel the need for democracy or debate, because we would know you are unhappy about it or we will manipulate it so you won’t be unhappy about it.”