Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance, and the Culture of Control

As scary as this book is, I thank Derrick Jensen and George Draffin for writing the truth. Modern survalence is a threat to our freedom. Anybody who wants to know what those in power are doing to monitor us, or what they plan to do read this book. Not only is it full of facts, but Derrick helps you come to terms with what all of it means. People now-a-days dont have a huge problem with giving up some of their freedom for security. But what those in power are doing with this information is down right scary, and un-acceptable. It is a quick read too. It will bring up huge topics, define and break them apart, and open your eyes to modern technology; all in a days/weekends read. Overall great read. A+++

I'm not sure if I have ever read a book quite like this one, the author writing style is a little different to say the least. At first I was concerned that maybe a mad professor had escaped from an asylum, such is the writing style but soon realised that the author is a man who has a great deal of knowledge but an even greater passion for the subject. I can remember someone saying that privacy is like a straight line with total anonymity on one end and essentially total government control on the other and that as we as a society move further away from privacy we will never be able to go back. Considering the world as we now know it and how the world's governments are reacting to it, this book serves as a reminder or more correctly a primer to likely future we shall face in the very near future. If your only going to by one book of this type then I think that this should be it, I purchased quite a few of the same type of books when I purchased this one and so far this is the one that stands out from the crowd.

I woke up this morning at 5:30 AM to finish the last chapter of Welcome to the Machine. By 7:30 AM I was ready to dismantle whatever needs to be dismantled of the machine. Or put another way, I was ready to smash the machine. In Welcome to the Machine Jensen and Draffan ask the readers some of the most important questions civilized human beings can ask themselves. "Do science, technology, and the military better serve living breathing human beings, or corporations? Do you believe societies power structures have been designed for your best interests? The interests of your family? Your community? Your landbase? What do these structures protect? How do you want to live?" Jensen and Draffan have made it clear to me who benefits from nanotechnology, biometrics, hidden cameras in dressing rooms, email interception, phone taps, your neighbors telling on you(TIPS), RFID chips, well designed prisons, stored information about you on computer hard drives and a "day after" pill that erases any remorse felt by soldiers who commit the most despicable of atrocities. The name of the game is "top down" management, and those at the bottom definitely benefit far less from science, technology, and surveillance than those at the top. Participate in the machine; you pay for the research of surveillance technology. Participate in the machine; you pay for the surveillance technology. Participate in the machine; you pay for yourself to be watched. If your part of the machine, read this book!