Most debates around data collection and surveillance focus on what might happen if our personal information were leaked. Vaughan’s story begins with the premise that it already has happened at the most catastrophic scale and then invites us to explore the cultural aftermath.
The decision to portray a society that has abandoned the internet entirely is bold because it forces the reader to question whether total disconnection can ever be practical or even safe. What makes the setting compelling is that its inhabitants have replaced transparency-based accountability with a culture of extreme anonymity. Masks and nyms become more than props. They are social tools and in many ways social shields. Yet these shields do not necessarily create freedom. In fact they introduce new layers of isolation and mistrust which complicate even the simplest human interactions.
Most debates around data collection and surveillance focus on what might happen if our personal information were leaked. Vaughan’s story begins with the premise that it already has happened at the most catastrophic scale and then invites us to explore the cultural aftermath.
The decision to portray a society that has abandoned the internet entirely is bold because it forces the reader to question whether total disconnection can ever be practical or even safe. What makes the setting compelling is that its inhabitants have replaced transparency-based accountability with a culture of extreme anonymity. Masks and nyms become more than props. They are social tools and in many ways social shields. Yet these shields do not necessarily create freedom. In fact they introduce new layers of isolation and mistrust which complicate even the simplest human interactions.