Everything that happens must be public
Privacy is also the common thread in The Circle. In this respect, the motto that Eggers chose for his novel, borrowed from John Steinbeck's East of Eden, is striking: "There wasn't any limit, no boundary at all, to the future. And it would be so a man wouldn't have room to store his happiness." Protagonist Mae Holland can't believe her luck when she is hired by the Circle, the most powerful internet company in the world. The personal e-mails of the users, their social media, payment transactions and purchases are linked by a universal operating program. The result: everyone has only one online identity. A new era of openness and community has dawned.
Privacy is theft
Mae is swept up in the energy of the company, the group activities and parties poland mobile phone number list the endless possibilities—even as she slowly loses sight of life off campus, an encounter with a colleague leaves her confused, and her contributions to The Circle become increasingly public.
'Outside the walls of the Circle, all was noise and struggle, failure and filth. But here, all had been perfected. The best people had made the best systems and the best systems had reaped funds, unlimited funds, that made possible this, the best place to work. And it was natural that it was so, Mae thought.
New luxury: being offline
I predict, in line with the privacy discussion, the rise of a new luxury: being offline. This coming weekend I am going to try this out. On the program is a bike ride with my 91-year-old uncle Jan to the IJssel. He does not have a smartphone, but he does have binoculars. With that he watches the departing birds at this time of year. In the spring he sees them return. That is The Circle to which he is connected. He does not tweet about the birds he sees, but listens to them. My uncle Jan is proof: you can live long and happily even without technology.
Photo intro courtesy of Fotolia