Epilogue

Abstract

Abstract The epilogue offers some thoughts about academic philosophy and public policy, and reviews the practical significance of our philosophical views about privacy. Privacy is more fundamental to society than it can first appear. It is as old as humanity, universal, deeply entrenched in social norms, and vital to our wellbeing. As individuals, a culture of exposure cripples our autonomy and creativity. As social beings, it can flatten our social interactions into politically correct exchanges between public personae. A surveilled social setting in which everything can be on the record does not allow for unreservedness or true intimacy. Politically, surveillance threatens our civil liberties. Watching someone is a way of exercising power over them. The act of surveillance is not neutral—it pressures the surveilled into conformity. It is an act of domination. We may have come a long way from the savannahs we evolved in, but it is still the case that the stare of another turns us into potential prey.