Two stories in The Times, 5/1/2105:
'Technology lets boss know who is longing to leave', by Tom Whipple, and
'The suit that reveals when you are lying', by Nadeem Badshah
The first story is about employers using 'Big Data' technologies to analyse your posts on social network sites and other sources of information to highlight when a employee turns from engaged worker to disgruntled employee, who may then start to think about a new job with a new employer. Apparently, data analysis shows that the existing employer has approximately 3 months to turn the situation around (should said employer wish to do so!).
The second story is a short piece describing research conducted by a team of scientists from Cambridge, Lancaster and Utrecht. They have developed a suit containing multiple sensors that can detect fine changes in physiology, allowing it to out perform the more traditional forms of lie-detectors.
What is striking about both of these stories is that we are now developing technologies that can tell what a person is thinking even before they might be currently conscious of that thought. There are many more examples of this (For example, apparently, Amazon are developing algorithms that will predict a buyer's next purchase even before they know it themselves, thus improving efficiencies around delivery).
What does all this mean for our sense of autonomy, our belief that we are responsible and conscious about the decisions we make? What implications does this have for personal development, or even legal responsibility? Are we in the process of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, where instead of 'Computer says 'No'' we start believing we wanted something, just because it arrived in our post-box?
Any thoughts?
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