Journal Article

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Al Omari, Alla Jamal Mustafa

2024

Overview

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), the dystopian masterpiece, painted a chilling portrait of a totalitarian state wielding absolute power over its nation. This paper argues that Orwell's vision, although written 75 years ago, possesses an unsettling prescience to our age of big data and pervasive surveillance technologies. The paper explores how the novel's themes of constant monitoring, manipulation of information, and the erosion of privacy corresponds to contemporary anxieties surrounding data collection, facial recognition software, and social media algorithms. The paper delves into the Party's omnipresent telescreens and the concept of \"thoughtcrime\" in Nineteen Eighty-Four, drawing parallels to the ways in which our online activities and personal data can be tracked, analyzed, and potentially used to influence or control our behavior. Furthermore, the paper examines the manipulation of language in the novel through Newspeak, a tool for restricting thought and dissent. This concept finds echoes in the way online platforms can shape discourse through targeted content and the potential for social media echo chambers. This study uses comparative analysis to explore the enduring relevance of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four by drawing parallels between its dystopian themes -like constant surveillance, information manipulation, and language control- and contemporary issues such as big data, surveillance technologies, and social media algorithms. By comparing these fictional and real-world elements, the study highlights potential misuses of technology for social control. By analyzing these parallels, the paper aims to highlight the enduring relevance of Nineteen Eighty-Four and its urgent call for vigilance against the potential misuse of technology in the pursuit of social control.

• Publisher: جامعة جرش
• Subject: البيانات الضخمة / التحول الرقمي / تقنيات الذكاء الاصطناعي / وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي