Conclusion: Futures of Modern Privacy

Abstract

When Alice in Wonderland asked the Cheshire Cat “Which way should she go?,” the answer was simple: “It depends a good deal on where you want to go.” This is an important answer for our deliberations on this volume. After presenting a series of analyses of the development and transformations of the modern private sphere we conclude with some reflections about future trends. In the critical theory tradition, we attempt to detect in contemporary experience some of those tendencies that point to the possibility of transcending some of the present problems and unveil alternative grounds and ways of people connecting with each other. Any discussion about the futures of modern privacy cannot just be about trends and their inner dynamics, however. Some conscious transformations are not just possible but also necessary. Some can be initiated by individuals, others need the concerted actions of groups through the existing and emerging channels of civil society. Bauman is right in saying that “[o]nly such future is ‘given to us’ here and now, as resides in the realm of human imagination” (Bauman, 2002, p.17). So, imagine we must in order to keep open the possibilities for constant revision and adjustment of already existing structures to better suit our needs (where we want to go) and address our fears on an individual and societal level alike.¹ On the theoretical level, and even more so in novels and similar literary works, these fears are expressed in a number of frightening dystopias.² On the individual level, as has become clear from many of the preceding papers, the fear of anonymity seems to be pronounced indeed today. Such anonymity—being unnoticed, looked through—is often perceived as humiliation, as the denial of dignity and respect.