George Orwell Responds to Today's Tech

Since the Immortal Writers have trusted me with their story, William Shakespeare has also entrusted me to post his and other writers' responses to adaptations of their work, fan fiction, and other material. I tried to get George Orwell to comment on how his predictions of technology and political warfare were correct, but he refused to get on the computer. Eventually the Immortal Writers started recording our argument, much to Orwell's distaste. Here is the transcript of the latter end of our conversation. -Jill

Orwell: Bowers, how could you ask me, me, to get on one of those telescreens and type up a response?

Me: It's not a telescreen, it's a computer.

Orwell: You've admitted that it knows what you're doing, what you're looking at, and the small telescreens even know where you are!

Me: The computer isn't going to bite you, Orwell. You don't even have to connect to the Internet. Just get on and type up a response and I'll put it on the Web.

Orwell: You've been putting all of our responses on the Internet, haven't you? What if Big Brother finds out where the Immortal Writers are, Bowers? What then?

Me: Eric---

Orwell: Don't use my real name! These other authors are recording us now!

Me: George, of course I've been putting it on the Internet. But what do you think is going to happen when the book comes out, anyway? Everyone that reads it is going to know about the Immortal Writers.

Orwell: It's different than putting it on a telescreen.

Me: Hasn't Shakespeare told you the book is going to be in eBook format too?

Orwell: It's going to what?

Me: Calm down, Orwell. Big Brother isn't real. It didn't even cross over into this reality with you.

Orwell: Do you know why, Bowers? You know why? It's already here.

Me: Really, Orwell, you weren't too afraid to speak up when you were legally living. What's the difference now? The world thinks you're dead anyway.

Orwell: And I'd rather keep it that way. I'm not going to try out your blasted telescreen, Bowers. Big Brother---

Me: Yeah, yeah, Big Brother is watching.

Orwell: Just you watch, Bowers. I'm right about everything. They can hear us. They're watching us. They're listening, and they don't need a good reason. That's why I refuse to use your telescreen.

Luckily, Orwell never does use a computer, so he doesn't know I've posted this. He's right, though, isn't he? With cookies today, every site we see is tracked. Ads are customized to match what we search for on the Web. Phones track our locations.

I think Orwell may be right.

Big Brother is watching.