Chapter 13: Send me your location

So, hands up if you’ve ever turned on your location settings?

You have? Great!

Now Snapchat knows your favourite locations you because you wanted to use those geographical filters.

And Apple knows everything about you, because you had to turn on Google Maps to get directions for that one restaurant, with that name that’s a few streets away, but you can’t remember where exactly.

And why is that?

Because that app, along with many others, as well as telecommunications providers, internet servers and websites track what you do online.

I know, i know, you still don’t believe me that much.

But think of it this way.

You know how you find yourself talking or looking up something about a product or service and then an ad for it shows up later that day?

Yes?

Well it’s because what you’re doing is actually generating information that is going back to these corporations where they are storing them in their data centers, who essentially spit out associated information right back at you.

Everything you do, every bit of information you provide online is captured and used.

And that’s how media becomes so addictive.

Because it gathers the information you provide and tailors it to suit your tastes and needs.

So is this an emergence of a type of AI? That automatically tailors itself to suit you?

And that being said, can we safely say that we are individuals anymore? Or we all just another bit of information floating around in our simulation?