Seeing, Surveillance, and Control

The concept of seeing emerged with the first human, and since that day, people have tried to make sense of things by looking at their surroundings. The concept of seeing is a phenomenon that has persisted from the beginning to the present day. Within this phenomenon, we all see. However, whether or not we make sense of what we see can vary from person to person. Even if what is seen is perceived differently, the process of seeing occurs in the same way in every individual. The word "görüntü" (image) is the Turkish equivalent of the word "image," derived from the verb to see. This word, which appears as "image" in English, comes from the Latin "imago." Its meaning is defined as something that appears to exist even though it does not exist in reality (a ghost). In another definition, it is the form of any object created with a lens or mirror. An image is the appearance that emerges from the reconstruction of movement through the sequential projection of pictures arranged on a film with the help of a projector, or the entirety of moving pictures on a display. In summary, the form of any object with volume in the universe that is reflected onto a lens or an eye is called an image.

When surveillance is mentioned, the first name that comes to mind is the panopticon. The phenomenon of surveillance was shaped by Jeremy Bentham's series of letters in 1786, while he was in Russia, describing the plans and usage of a newly designed building model called an inspection house. The architectural features of the panopticon were designed entirely to control and keep individuals under surveillance. In the panopticon, the prisoner is seen but cannot see. For this reason, according to Foucault, visibility is a trap. The panopticon is a power machine used to separate the duality of seeing and being seen. Those under surveillance are seen but cannot see.

GLOBAL PANOPTICON: BIG BROTHER

According to Karl Marx, surveillance is an element of the struggle between labor and capital. The concept of high production at low costs has led managers to develop management logic based on the rationale of monitoring, surveilling, and disciplining workers.

Zamyatin's "We" describes individuals who have been severed from nature and their own selves, becoming a "we" and surrendering to technology and the bureaucratic state. With glass living spaces, everything imaginable can be easily seen. In Orwell's "1984," Big Brother watches and sees everything everyone does. Here, too, individuals are kept under surveillance through telescreens. In Huxley's "Brave New World," "everyone belongs to everyone else," and surveillance is achieved by injecting happiness into people. Individuals are produced by the state as prototypes. The common point in these three utopian works is control.

The panoptic society concept, which Bentham formalized, Foucault theorized, and Zamyatin, Orwell, and Huxley emphasized as a dystopia, has become possible today thanks to electronic networks. According to Lyon, individuals are no longer defined as citizens, but as coded sequences of numbers and letters. This is a phenomenon that facilitates surveillance. Think about what processes we use our Turkish ID numbers for today.

DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL

Credit cards, which began to be used in the 1800s as a shortcut to obtaining bank loans, have become an indispensable part of today's society. Credit cards are evaluated by individuals more as cash than as a credit concept. With their wide range of use, credit cards are the most important tools of the control mechanism. Information about the expenditures made by individuals can be viewed instantly.

The increase in electronic environments that individuals use in an unlimited and free manner leads to the comprehensive shaping and development of the surveillance phenomenon. Surveillance continues uninterrupted through uses such as phone calls, street cameras, withdrawing money from a bank, browsing the internet, entry cards at workplaces, and location tracking via mobile phones.

So, what can be done with surveillance? Our movements can be tracked. Our behavior can be detected. All kinds of information about us can be accessed. Surveillance takes place through electronic commerce. In this type of surveillance, while the body disappears, individuals are coded and find life in digital environments. This signals the beginning of a new era, also defined as the metaverse, which aims for absolute control over individuals.