New technologies are collecting data to be sold or shared between companies in sometimes questionable ways.

Y'all really think that "Black Mirror" isn't gonna happen?

Well, it's not going to happen; it's already happening.

Let's start in China, where employers are monitoring their employees' brain waves⏤oh, yeah, you heard that right, monitoring their brain waves.

To be clear, they're not attempting to read the workers' thoughts, but their emotions.

Factories, state-owned enterprises, and sections of the Chinese military are placing wireless sensors in employees' hats that record and transmit data similar to an electroencephalogram, or EEG.

By analyzing the incoming sensor data, AI models can detect anomalies that might indicate a spike in anger, depression, or anxiety.

This system is said to help employers find out who's stressed, modulate break times, and increase productivity, in turn, spiking company profits by an estimated ¥2 billion since 2014.

This tech is being used elsewhere, too, like assessing fatigue in high-speed train drivers and monitoring patients in hospitals.

Sure, it would be dope to find out if your significant other is really fine when they say "I'm fine" after a fight.

But how do you regulate something like this?

If emotional data is mineable, what happens if companies nefariously use it to abuse their power?

I listen to a lot of SZA and Drake⏤I'm emotional; please don't use my emotions against me.

China has a social credit score, a clout score based on your criminal record, donations to charity, loyalty to political parties, how many video games you buy, and even your friends' social credit scores.

This is just like "Black Mirror" series three's "Nosedive", where everyone has a score based on social interactions.

The Chinese government claims it's trying to build "trust" with this score, but its implications can be more sinister.

For instance, in 2016, a man was denied a plane ticket because a judge deemed a court apology "insincere" and placed him on a blacklist, tanking his score.

"Insincerity" is hella subjective, so how would we regulate for everyone's opinions?

Finally, China is using all this information to make you into a precog.

They're literally trying to predict political instability using feeds from surveillance cameras, phone usage, travel records, and religious orientation.

Extrapolating the negative consequences, this taps into personal data and can unfairly target groups based on prejudice, specifically the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim populations.

And let's just say you protest this state-sponsored measure.

That affects your social credit score, which then can deny you things like plane tickets and jobs, keeping you trapped by the system.

Tracking every arena⏤personal, professional, recreational, political, etc.⏤is dangerous, especially in the United States, where we value life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

 Like we don't already know that the government is in our webcams, Siris, and Alexas.

Than... thank you?

It's pretty spooky to think about how the systemic issues were already grappling pretty hard with this society, such as all of these biases, could be magnified by technology we already developed.

America has a lot to deal with right now, so maybe we should sit this tech out.

All of these tools can have a pro-social end goal, but it's too soon to tell if the ends justify the means.

Data will continue to be collected on us⏤that's for sure.

But, with few regulatory systems in place, we gotta keep an eye on this new tech that's already just chillin' here and stop pretending that this is all happening in some distant dystopian future.

Not only is AI gonna run the world someday, but it's already being used to predict the next global pandemic.

Wanna find out how? Bet you do.

Check out this video right here.

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