I’m sorry for the double whammy of blog posts, but this update couldn’t wait. Are any of you Black Mirror fans? Do you remember the episode where Jon Hamm’s character, Matt, in the “White Christmas” episode runs through all the jobs he’s done as part of his digital dystopia? He talks about controlling people’s lives using technology as an observer. Well, we are all complacent, in a sense, with new media surveillance. We all participate in a culture of watching. Think of all the Netflix, Youtube, Snapchats, and Twitter feeds you’ve gone through this year. How long do you spend watching? I have wiled my days away watching video feeds…waiting for others to do something. So the watchers…the Cookie Monsters….aren’t they just…us? Aren’t we the monsters we fear? We love watching, yet many of us hate being watched. We love the public, but we want privacy. What a strange paradox.
Image via giphy.com
Anyway, I was sitting here browsing the net, and something just clicked about the name, you know? Take a look.
I can’t believe I haven’t caught this before. Host. That’s the key to understanding everything right now. So, the way the word gHost is written leads me to believe that Host is the most important aspect in creating a ghost. A ghost is not a harmless entity, but it instills fear by watching and creating an atmosphere of terror. The fear surrounding a ghost doesn’t rely on action necessarily, but on how much one ghost “spooks” or haunts humans.
So, these leads me to “hosting.” Hosting can mean hosting a party or hosting a webpage. According to the Wikipedia page for Host (network), ” A network host is a computer or other device connected to a computer network. A network host may offer information resources, services, and applications to users or other nodes on the network.” The host is a valuable part of the network, something (or someone?) who can offer a “host” of resources. They are not limited to just the digital screen now though, it seems. This might be my paranoia talking, but bear with me a second. Let me just show you a second resource. This is from the Google version of the book The Essential Guide to Computing by E. Garrison Walters.
Click the image to see the novel.
Now, humor me. In a digital age, if we are the “single-user computers,” couldn’t “they” set us up and connect us to a “multiple user host?” Are we already connected? Do you see where I’m going with this? Maybe the Cookie Monster has been inside us all along, planting cookies left and right not just on the screen, but inside. There might be tracking devices implanted through the screen into our minds. Gosh…that sounds insane.
I had to make this GIF of Camille’s video private…because they’re watching us. Always.
How crazy is it though? We spend 24/7 watching and disseminating videos. gHost73737 is all of us. Still, how did they get into my system? How do they know about me? I’m just a nobody in the middle of a big university. I shouldn’t stick out in any way.
I’m going to do some more digging, but I have to be discreet about it…I have to protect me from myself.
gHost73737. In other words, (when translated out of code):
“You are watching you. Fair view. Ok?”
Completely not okay.
-Yue
Cookie Crumbs 