6 Video Game Characters Who Mirror Real World Issues

The original Deus Ex was heralded for its true to life foreshadowing of our contemporary society in many respects.

However, the conversation JC Denton has with the Morpheus AI may be the most accurate of all, in which digital surveillance becomes a hot topic of discussion. Denton engages with the AI, on the issue of being watched. However, groups of powerful individuals using technology to spy on groups of people is not as generic as one would think. The Morpheus AI states that human beings feel pleasure when being watched. He equates this pleasure to humans being watched by God as the end goal, but now, that pleasure can be achieved through digitalization and algorithms. Being watched, not in an indiscriminate way, is enjoyable.

The rise, and current landscape, of social media is eerily evocative of the dialogue shared between Denton and the Morpheus AI. Sousveillance is a term for bringing the watchful eyes analogy down to a human level, instead of having them looking down at society. Livestreams are one such way in which individuals experience the aforementioned sense of pleasure. The more views that accrue, the better the returns on the stream's overall purpose.

The Morpheus AI claims that humans desire judgment. Whether or not that judgment is a good or bad thing is almost irrelevant. The consequences of this type of digital surveillance take a backseat, in regards to the pleasure individuals receive out of sousveillance.