I often sit by the Aegean, watching the sun dip below the horizon, thinking of how our ancestors used the stars as a map for their destiny. Today, that same sky is being eyed as a billboard for 'starwashing.' Startups like Reflect Orbital plan to launch 50,000 mirrors to redirect sunlight after dark, effectively promising us 'on-demand' solar energy while threatening the very rhythm of our wildlife and the sanctity of our night. Is this progress, or is it a new form of hubris?
The Invisible Panopticon
It is not just the sky they are enclosing. Researchers in Germany have recently shown that standard Wi-Fi signals can 'see' us with 99.5% accuracy, turning the invisible radio waves in our homes into a surveillance net. Even if you turn off your phone, the very air around you betrays your position. While Meta patents 'kill switches' for smart glasses to appease our privacy fears, the reality is that the walls are becoming transparent. We are moving toward a world where our presence is data, harvested without a camera ever being turned on.
The Battle for the Commons
We see this same predatory spirit in the digital realm. The music industry is currently suing Anthropic for what they call 'blatant theft' of copyrighted works to train AI models. Thousands of songs—from Marvin Gaye to Taylor Swift—are being treated as mere raw material. Meanwhile, a startup called Operation Bluebird is trying to reclaim the 'Twitter' name and logo, arguing that X Corp. simply threw away its cultural heritage. It reminds me of the ancient Greek agora; once a space is abandoned by its guardians, others will rush to claim the ruins.
"Freedom of speech, not freedom of reach," says the new Twitter.now platform.
Perhaps there is a lesson here. While 'AI hyperscalers' push government debt yields higher and companies like ICE look into purchasing robot dogs for enforcement, we must ask ourselves: who is this technology for? Is it for the call center workers in the Philippines who are working harder than ever due to the Jevons Paradox? Or is it for those who wish to sell us back the sunlight they've stolen from our night? I think it is time we demand a 'Trust Dial' for our entire digital existence.