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The future is coming, and it will be in the form of a never-ending record of everyone’s time and place. In a new commercial released by Samsung, the tech giant portrays our grand destiny as one big touch screen. A father wakes up to a coffee thermos with a thumb scanner and health checkup on command. The mother uses a cutting board with a built-in monitor for cleanliness. Their daughter attends a school where every desk has a touch-centric display board and the chalkboard is replaced with another seamlessly operated computer screen. Everywhere you look, there is a customizable device to keep people immersed in the digital universe.

Samsung calls this orgasm of digital splendor a “display centric world.” I call it hellish materialism, with no privacy to boot. Sure, the convenience of instant communication at your fingertip is intriguing. But thanks to the Snowden revelations, you can be sure some government goon is monitoring your every move on these touch displays.

Already, the NSA has the capability to turn any iPhone into a clandestine listening device. The agency is intercepting laptops purchased online and installing spyware that gives agents complete backdoor access. How hard would it be for them to hijack new computer monitors?

The Samsung commercial is the spitting image of what a 21st-century telescreen might look like. George Orwell brought the dystopian vision of mass surveillance to the average man. 1984 was once widely read in schools. Now, the lessons learned in Winston Smith’s tortured tale are slowly sliding down the memory hole. The very notion of anonymity is being destroyed with every new smartphone purchased. And this whole thing is called “human progress.”

As Orwell said, “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” The option to be untraceable in modern life is disappearing in front of our very noses. The worst part is, many are welcoming this great leap forward.

Snowden’s idea that “we the people” are going to rise up and put a stop to ubiquitous spying is puerile. The masses are willing to accept perverted NSA agents keeping tabs on their browser history if it means narcissistic escapism at social events. Despotic governments aren’t always the destroyer of rights. Many times, citizens will simply accept transgressions on their liberty in favor of base consumerism. This is our brave new world, where smart tablets and circuses have eroded a respect for privacy.

We aren’t giving up liberty for security; we are giving up liberty to play “Angry Birds” on the subway. God help us from our trivial desires. If this is the linear course to the end of history, I want off this ride.