Touchy Subject

[Bek]

I think we should be concerned with the transition of media replacing the role of religion.
I mean at what point do people actually start worshipping Simon Cowell.

heh.. the game Deus Ex works this idea into it's plot, and suggests that the next thing to be worshipped will be an artificial intelligence system that controls everything (cameras, all information etc). In short they invent their god.

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JC Denton: "I don't see anything amusing about spying on people."
    Morpheus: "Human beings feel pleasure when they are watched. I have recorded their smiles as I tell them who they are."
    JC Denton: "Some people just don't understand the dangers of indiscriminate surveillance."
    Morpheus: "The need to be observed and understood was once satisfied by God. Now we can implement the same functionality with data-mining algorithms."
    JC Denton: "Electronic surveillance hardly inspires reverence. Perhaps fear and obedience, but not reverence."
    Morpheus: "God and the gods were apparitions of observation, judgment and punishment. Other sentiments towards them were secondary."
    JC Denton: "No one will ever worship a software entity peering at them through a camera."
    Morpheus: "The human organism always worships. First, it was the gods, then it was fame (the observation and judgment of others), next it will be self-aware systems you have built to realize truly omnipresent observation and judgment."
    JC Denton: "You underestimate humankind's love of freedom."
    Morpheus: "The individual desires judgment. Without that desire, the cohesion of groups is impossible, and so is civilization."