What is the role of modern technology in generating, spreading or sustaining conspiracy theories?

The infernal "they" are always up to something that send a chill up ones spine. From the Sony laptop battery recall wherein some conspiracy theorists claimed that the "new batteries have GPS RFID chips in them to track the computers and so when you replace the batteries under these recalls they will know everywhere you go" Why you ask, would Sony go through such great lengths to find out where I am at all times, presumably toting my lap top to the can or the grocery store? Well the answer is simple, it's claimed that Sony is working with "the secret NSA police and they were working with the aliens to track humans because all the humans are getting plump and ready for harvest."



It's long been fantasized throughout the string of generations that "Big Brother is Watching You." (Orwell, 1984). Is it fact or fantasy? Is there a glimmer of possibility that it is true? I say certainly. A glimmer. What gets me every time is the apocalyptic view. We have long heard the warning cries in the chapter of Revelations in the Bible. "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark of his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name". - Revelation 13:16-17. Of this Jeremiah Prophet says, "The book of Revelation reveals that the Antichrist will be able to track and control all financial transactions and that NO MAN will be able to buy or sell anything unless he has the mark. Advances in digital technology have placed the world today on the verge of an identification system capable of monitoring virtually every human transaction. " The ominous feeling of this puts a boogey-man in ones proverbial closet to contend with. The things that are the scariest are those that could actually come true.



Is this technology's fault? On the surface I'd say no... but delving a bit deeper could I acquit technology of any wrong doings against humanity? No, I could not. There is something lurking, unusual behind it. A seeming savior at sometimes, but a destroyer of much in many other senses. The world gets more and more complex, running it's fingers along the edges of a one world order... and if anyone could do it, it would be in the name of technology.



The big technology debate right now stems around two issues. One being RFID chips. These chips are tiny little bar codes that do track our purchases not only by linking sales to a customer, but eventually perhaps to even track your purchase physically upon leaving the store. On a positive note it could be an anti-terrorist thwarting technique, but it is still an invasion of the American life we know and the rights within it. But, creeping in slowly, the seeds could be planted. 'They can't get inside you, she had said. But they could get inside you." (Orwell, 1984)


Secondly, we have cloning, and genetic manipulations as another big technological debate. Technology in the scientific field is growing at an alarming rate; to the point of playing God himself. Am I comfortable in the connotative shadow of this idea? Surely not. There is too much room for discomfort here. The further we get, the more unusual, the less explainable, the more potentially devastating technology could become. All superpowers run the possibility of global domination. Conspiracy theorists though many times having gone off the deep end, they are bound to be right some of the time. And this is a quite long running issue. Maybe they are on to something... maybe not, but it's worth a thought.