The Every

by Dave Eggers

The vast majority of her fellow college students had been subject to cameras in every classroom since preschool. Their parents had known their whereabouts every moment of their lives, and they had never thought it cumbersome—had never known an unsurveilled life.

the two of them engaged in the tragic everyday byproduct of the time—watching a fellow human tap on a screen, waiting for the result.

They were free from freedom. The limitless choices of the world were suddenly made for them. Order was promised. The streets will be clean, the lawbreakers will be gone, your days will be predetermined, and the unknown will go away.

Didn’t we reveal, they asked, after we were caught, that our smart speakers were turning themselves off and on at their own behest? And didn’t we admit, after we were caught, that we were listening to and recording anything we wanted at any time, anything that was said in the private homes of hundreds of millions of users? And didn’t we reveal, after we were caught, that we were recording all the private conversations every user had in the privacy of their own homes?

Karma was vague; digital shaming is specific. And I would argue people prefer the reliable nature of morality-through-surveillance over the ephemeral promises of the gods/Gods of the past.

Prayers to God were rarely answered, while shouts into cyberspace always receive a response, even if misspelled and hateful. Everything God offered—answers, clarity, miracles, baby names—the internet does better.