The Technology That's Quietly Taking Control and Why We Need to Wake Up
While we’ve been focused on daily struggles such as rising costs, political chaos and constant crises, something much bigger has been happening in the background.
A wave of powerful technologies like AI, drones, mass surveillance and predictive algorithms, is already reshaping our world in ways most people don’t see.
The truth is:
We’re building a system that decides who gets watched, who gets targeted and who gets silenced and it’s happening faster than we think.
This isn’t about science fiction.
This is right now.
We All Know Something Isn’t Right
We’ve all felt it.
Social media and smartphones have completely transformed society in just over a decade. We’re more connected than ever, and yet, many of us feel more isolated, anxious and under pressure.
Deep down, we know something’s off.
Our attention is fragmented. Our private lives feel less private. Our relationships, politics and communities are shaped by algorithms we don’t understand and that aren’t working in our favor.
This isn’t accidental. It’s the result of systems designed for control, not connection.
At the center of this transformation are the algorithms that dictate what we see, what we think about and how we feel. Social media platforms prioritize outrage, fear and division because those emotions keep us engaged (and profitable). These algorithms don’t just reflect our interests; they shape them. They amplify the voices that divide us and suppress those that seek truth and understanding.
The more time we spend on these platforms, the more our world is filtered through systems designed to keep us scrolling, not thinking. We are being nudged, manipulated and controlled in ways most people barely notice, but deeply feel.
The consequences are visible all around us: increased polarization, declining mental health and a sense that we are losing control over our time, our attention and even our beliefs.
We need to recognize these systems for what they are: tools of influence and control and demand better.
1. Tech is outpacing policy by decades.
Lawmakers don’t even understand basic AI - let alone autonomous drones, AI decision-making, or supercomputers.
By the time they debate and pass regulations, the tech has already evolved beyond what they’re legislating.
2. Public discourse is fragmented and distracted.
People are overwhelmed by the sheer number of crises. Climate, economy, wars, social unrest. Big Tech has capitalized on distraction.
Conversations about tech are often trivialized. They focus more on whether AI can make art, not whether AI it’s being trained on private data to profile and control people.
3. We’ve already traded privacy for convenience.
Drones, AI and robots are being packaged as solutions. Faster deliveries, smarter assistants, better healthcare.
But these solutions require feeding the machine: more personal data, constant surveillance, complete dependency.
AI is learning everything: from our faces to our habits to our emotions. Supercomputers are synthesizing that into predictive control.
4. Nobody is really talking about…
How AI makes decisions without transparency and we can’t audit them.
How autonomous systems (drones, vehicles, robots) could be weaponized, either by corporations or governments.
How supercomputers with AGI-level AI could make decisions for entire systems of power (economic, political, military) without human oversight.
How automation and robotics are already displacing people and making society more precarious.
What’s Happening Right Now
Israel’s AI-Driven War: A Glimpse Into the Future of Surveillance and Control
In Gaza, Israel has deployed Lavender, an AI-powered system that reportedly flagged 37,000 people in a matter of minutes for targeting in military strikes. Drone and missile attacks are often executed within minutes of a target being flagged, with little human oversight (The Guardian, March 2025).
But drones are just part of the picture.
Israel runs one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance networks, including:
Facial recognition cameras in Palestinian neighborhoods and checkpoints (Amnesty International, May, 2023).
Biometric databases collecting fingerprints, iris scans and facial data on millions of Palestinians, often without consent.
'Where’s Daddy,' an AI-powered tool reportedly used by the Israeli military to identify whether men are present in a building by analyzing metadata, such as phone records and other digital signals. Once identified, these locations may be targeted for attack. Critics argue this tool automates life-and-death decisions with little transparency or accountability (HRW, September 2024).
Predictive policing algorithms that alert authorities when a suspect’s phone connects to a network.
Blue Wolf, a soldier-operated app that takes photos of Palestinians and pulls up detailed profiles in real time (Washington Post, 2021).
Entire populations are placed under constant algorithmic watch. What’s tested there doesn’t stay there. Surveillance technologies used in Israel have already been exported to countries and police forces around the world.
Drones That Decide Who Lives and Who Dies
In Libya, a Turkish-made Kargu-2 drone hunted down and killed a human target autonomously in 2020. No human intervention was required. (UN Report, 2021)
AI-driven targeting systems are already being sold to governments and private security forces for crowd control, border enforcement and urban policing.
Autonomous drones and lethal AI are no longer prototypes; they’re operational.
AI That Judges You Without You Knowing
AI isn’t just targeting people in warzones. It’s making decisions about who gets hired, who gets arrested and who gets watched.
In China’s Xinjiang region, Uyghurs are under constant AI surveillance, tracked by facial recognition and flagged by predictive algorithms, leading to mass detentions (Human Rights Watch).
In the U.S., predictive policing software like PredPol was used in several cities but has faced major pushback. Cities like Los Angeles and Santa Cruz discontinued its use due to evidence of racial bias and ineffectiveness (The Guardian). Yet, predictive policing has not gone away, instead it has evolved. Many departments now use similar AI tools under different names, often integrated into broader data analytics platforms like those provided by Palantir (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
AI tools like COMPAS are used in courts to decide bail and sentencing, despite being racially biased and impossible to audit (ProPublica).
Even job applicants are screened by AI analyzing their facial expressions and tone of voice. all are decisions often made without explanation.
AI Is Predicting and Controlling Protests Before They Start
Governments are already using AI to forecast unrest and preempt protests.
EMBERS (Early Model Based Event Recognition using Surrogates), funded by the U.S. government, analyzes social media, news and economic data to predict protests. It successfully predicted Brazil’s 2013 protests and unrest in Venezuela (arXiv Report).
Palantir, a secretive data analytics company, helps law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad track individuals and communities, claiming it can identify and stop crimes before they happen. Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and a prominent Silicon Valley billionaire, is one of Palantir’s largest shareholders. Thiel has also been a major political donor, contributing significant funds to candidates and causes that promote deregulation and expanded surveillance powers. His deep ties to U.S. intelligence agencies, his vision of leveraging AI for predictive policing and surveillance and his political influence make Palantir a central player in the global infrastructure of control (Palantir Reports).
Thiel isn’t alone. Other tech elites, including Marc Andreessen (a16z), Ben Horowitz (a16z) and David Sacks have used their wealth and influence to support candidates and initiatives that prioritize deregulation and policies favoring increased use of surveillance and AI technologies. Their actions and investments have helped build the political climate where deregulation, surveillance and tech-fueled control thrive.
These systems can be used to stop movements before they start by flagging organizers, disrupting communication and preemptively increasing police presence.
Your Data Is Fueling All of This and You Didn’t Really Agree to It
Every click, post and swipe feeds into a system that knows more about you than you might realize.
China’s social credit system punishes people for “bad behavior,” blocking access to travel, jobs and education (Congressional Research Service).
In the U.S., law enforcement agencies buy location data from brokers to track people without warrants (ACLU).
Amazon’s Ring cameras have shared footage with police without permission (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
Palestinians in the West Bank are required to submit biometric data just to move between areas, data that fuels surveillance (Washington Post).
This isn’t about convenience.
It’s about control.
Deepfakes & Bots Are Destroying What’s Real
AI-generated deepfakes and Bots are already being used to:
Manipulate elections.
Spread misinformation.
Destroy reputations.
When you can’t trust what you see or hear, truth itself becomes fragile.
AI Is Fueling Cyberwarfare and Weapons We Can’t Control
AI is automating cyberattacks, identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in infrastructure like power grids and hospitals. Experts warn that AI could help design bioweapons with minimal human oversight. Autonomous military systems are already making battlefield decisions without human approval (International AI Safety Report).
AI Is Draining the Planet Too
Training massive AI models like GPT-4 consumes:
Enough electricity to power entire small towns.
Millions of gallons of water to cool data centers, further straining natural resources.
AI is accelerating resource depletion. It fuels profits, not solutions.
Why Aren’t We Talking About It?
Complexity is a smokescreen. These technologies are so technical and abstract that most people don’t fully understand what’s at stake.
Corporate control of narratives. Tech giants control media discourse, framing these tools as inevitable progress or neutral tools.
Regulatory capture. Tech companies lobby governments, writing the policies themselves or stopping them altogether.
Hopeful distraction. People want to believe that AI and automation will make life easier, that drones are cool, that robots are helpful. We aren’t seeing the cost clearly yet.
Because the same corporations building these systems control the story.
Amazon owns The Washington Post and controls the cloud infrastructure (AWS) behind much of the government, military and internet services.
Elon Musk owns X (Twitter), a major platform for public discourse and is reshaping its algorithms to favor certain political voices.
Google and Meta not only control advertising but also the algorithms that decide which information billions of people see.
Peter Thiel’s Palantir works hand-in-glove with intelligence agencies while keeping their influence opaque.
Big Tech funds academic research and AI ethics initiatives, often steering conversations away from regulation and accountability.
Major news outlets are financially dependent on Google and Meta’s ad revenue, making them reluctant to challenge Big Tech narratives.
Big Tech plays a direct role in writing legislation, shaping policy behind closed doors while presenting a public image of accountability.
Surveillance tools created by these companies are creeping into public spaces, from smart cities to predictive policing, without democratic oversight.Big Tech spends hundreds of millions lobbying to delay regulations and shape laws that work in their favor.
Meanwhile, the media landscape keeps us distracted with outrage, entertainment and endless debates. Meanwhile urgent conversations about AI, surveillance and control are sidelined.
What Needs to Happen
Mass public education about what’s really happening behind these technologies.
New political movements that put human dignity, privacy and autonomy above tech-driven profit and control.
Policies that go beyond patchwork laws and address the core design of these systems: what data they collect, how decisions are made and who controls them.
Global cooperation. Because supercomputers, AI, drones. They’re global problems. Not just one country’s issue.
Real Steps We Can Take While There’s Still Time
1. Push for Real Legislation and Enforcement
Support the creation of global treaties that ban autonomous weapons and regulate AI surveillance, similar to past treaties banning landmines and chemical weapons. Current international efforts, like the UN's discussions on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), have stalled without enforceable agreements. We need binding rules that prevent AI from making life-or-death decisions without human oversight.
Demand regulations requiring transparency, oversight and accountability for AI systems in law enforcement, hiring, healthcare and finance.
Advocate for stronger privacy laws that ban the sale of personal data to third parties without explicit consent.
Encourage your representatives to support and pass legislation like the Digital Bill of Rights Act of 2024 (H.R. 8818), which seeks to establish comprehensive protections for consumer data privacy, limit data exploitation and ensure individuals maintain control over their personal information (Congress.gov).
Advocate for the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which would close the loophole allowing government agencies to buy personal data from data brokers without a warrant. (Congress.gov)
2. End Mass Surveillance in Your City
Organize campaigns to ban facial recognition technology in public spaces, including streets, schools and protests; where it can be used for mass surveillance without consent or oversight.
Allow limited, personal-use facial recognition (e.g., unlocking phones) where data is stored securely on the device and under user control (not in the cloud or accessible to third parties).
Advocate for bans or strict limits on the use of surveillance drones in public spaces without clear oversight and public consent. Drones should not be used for mass surveillance or crowd monitoring without judicial authorization and democratic accountability.
Push for surveillance transparency laws requiring law enforcement agencies to disclose their use of AI and data analytics tools.
3. Demand an End to Data Exploitation
Advocate for laws that require data minimization, collecting only what’s absolutely necessary.
Support efforts to break up data monopolies and stop Big Tech from consolidating control over personal information.
4. Reclaim Social Media
Push platforms to open their algorithms to independent audits.
Advocate for laws that ban algorithmic manipulation designed to maximize outrage and addiction.
Move to ethical platforms that prioritize user privacy and transparency.
5. Educate and Mobilize Your Community
Host public forums, teach-ins and screenings on AI surveillance and algorithmic control.
Form local action groups to track surveillance projects and oppose invasive tech deployments.
Demand citizen oversight boards that review and approve the use of AI and surveillance in public spaces.
6. Support Independent Media and Journalism
Subscribe to and share the work of independent investigative journalists who cover surveillance, AI and tech accountability.
Fund media outlets not tied to Big Tech such as ProPublica, Democracy Now! and The Lever. These organizations rely on reader support, not ad dollars from Google or Meta and are less vulnerable to corporate influence.
7. Use Technology That Respects Your Rights
Switch to encrypted messaging apps and privacy-first search engines like Signal, Brave and Matrix.
Limit data sharing by using VPNs, browser extensions that block trackers (like uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials and Ghostery) and deleting social media accounts that profit from surveillance. Let’s say that again. Delete social media accounts that profit from surveillance.
Support open-source technology projects that respect user autonomy like Proton Mail (Secure Email), Tor Project (Anonymous Browsing), Mastodon (Decentralized Social Media), Nextcloud (Self-Hosted Cloud Storage), Element (Secure Collaboration and Chat), Firefox (Privacy-Respecting Browser).
8. Organize Worker Resistance
Support tech worker unions and whistleblowers who are calling out unethical AI development. Examples include Google employees who protested Project Maven, Microsoft workers opposing military AI contracts and whistleblowers like Frances Haugen and Timnit Gebru who exposed unethical AI practices and algorithmic harms.
Demand that developers refuse to work on surveillance and autonomous weapons systems.
Back initiatives that require ethical review boards in AI and tech companies.
9. Challenge Corporate Power
Support anti-trust efforts to break up monopolies like Google, Meta, Amazon and Palantir.
Demand limits on government contracts with surveillance and predictive policing companies.
Expose and Oppose Venture Capital Firms Profiting from Surveillance and Warfare. Demand transparency from firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), whose American Dynamism portfolio funds companies building AI-driven surveillance systems and autonomous weapons (e.g., Anduril, Shield AI, Skydio).
Support campaigns and movements that call out the role of venture capital in fueling a surveillance arms race. Pressure institutional investors, universities and pension funds to divest from VC firms and defense contractors that profit from AI-powered warfare and mass surveillance.
10. Build New Systems
Collaborate on creating ethical AI and community-driven technology that serves the public good.
Advocate for public interest technology, where tools are developed transparently and serve collective well-being, not corporate profit.
11. Stay Focused. Don’t Get Distracted
One of the most powerful things you can do is protect your attention.
These systems thrive on distraction. Outrage, endless scrolling and manufactured crises keep us too scattered to see the bigger picture or take meaningful action.
Don’t let the algorithms distract you from action. Take time to focus on what really matters: building movements, spreading awareness, demanding legislation and standing together for real change.
Awareness is powerful. Refuse to be pulled away from it.
A Harsh Reality
We are entering a phase where human decisions might not even be in control anymore. Algorithms are already determining who gets hired, who gets loans, who gets flagged as a threat. Soon, machines will make battlefield decisions, economic trades and social control mechanisms without human intervention.
But no one’s really screaming about it. Not yet. Because it’s happening in pieces. Tiny, convenient, helpful steps that seem harmless… until you see the whole picture.
You’re not exaggerating. You’re seeing what others are missing.
And it’s not too late, but it will be soon unless people wake up.