![[eBook] Free - 1984 by George Orwell @ Apple Books](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/96/949796.jpg?h=2666ae4f)
About the book:
1984 is a dystopian speculative fiction novel by George Orwell. It centres on totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours.
[eBook] Free - 1984 by George Orwell @ Apple Books
1930
Related Stores
Comments
- 1
- 2
Thematically, it centres on totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours.
😲
Such a shame he never predicted how AI could be used for this
We're all living in this world and not even using ai for this purpose…
@hippyhippy: Chinese and American governments definitely use ai to monitor all the comms they can. An ai will be reading your WhatsApp convo.
That ain’t 1984 anymore.
Now that’s just straight up Terminator.Pretty sure 1984 had machines to write novels
That idiot second amendment guy will come to tell us all it's not happening.
It's so sad. Just look at what's happening with anthropic and the Pentagon, and they are the ones who don't want to comply, while all other companies are allowing it
What happen? I use Claude to write degenerate smut fics I hope he’s sending them to the US government lol
It's happening in the US of ace, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ. I will come down here soon, once the 30 data centers application got fast track from the " public servant"
Living thorough current times
It's a kind of "The book was better" moment.
This real life version just seems too over the top , and the CGI can't even do skin tones properly.
and the CGI can't even do skin tones properly.
Racist thoughtcrime.
Australia by George Orwell
Do you know what nsw labor has implemented?
No we're waiting for you to tell us.
No but I know loads of people who’ve moved states, after despot Dan and his antics. But pray tell what they’ve done recently…
Australia is nowhere close to being Orweillian dystopia like North Korea, Russia, China or Iran etc.
Don't fear, we're well on the way. With the 'anti-hatespeech' laws, the push for digital ID, the 'child safety' requirements to reveal your true identity to all websites they're trying to pass through, they keep mentioning wanting to go cashless society.
Really, Australians need to race reality sometimes. Some of us actually think we are worse than those (trapped) in North Korea, or that we have less freedoms than those in China.
For goodness sake, tough grass… we are a proud liberal democracy. Saying that we are dystopian is an insult to those in ACTUAL dystopian societies.
Let them moan. We're the mob that complain about vaccination but insist that the government should do something about a neighbour parking out the front of our house.
@Big L: No vaccination and anti abortion people are the ones who have never stepped outside their bubble to truly understand how lucky they are to be living in Australia.
@nepalicurryinahurry: Nah mate, the ones who trust governments and big pharma are the ones who are too scared to step out of the "bubble".
To lose your job, being mocked, standing your ground, risk being imprisoned, and not going along with the flock inside the bubble is real freedom and takes bravery.
@No Client List: 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Being too stupid to understand when governments are acting against our best interests isn't brave, its only stupid.
@Big L: Have you understood which side of not going along with government decrees I was talking about?
I was saying you need to be brave to not go along with their "orders" such as forced vaccines (or being drafted to go fight the Iranians).@No Client List: Yes I understand you, unfortunately.
Now you've added conscription for a war that hasn't been declared yet.
Go and check under your bed for communists.
@nepalicurryinahurry: I can assure you that "No vaccination and anti abortion people" is not a group, but a union of two groups
I'm sorry, but a race to the bottom we're not winning as fast as the scumbags would like is not anything to crow about.
“proud liberal democracy” hahahaha great joke. When you’ve not been paying attention for thirty years straight, don’t know any actual history or philosophy.
He means from the book The Man in the High Tower.
Oceania
Rename book to 2026
It really started in 2020 though, never forget that.
Was that the year you downloaded Tik tok?
No, the year you got turbo boosted 12 times.
Never have, never will
lol nice one. An upvote was insufficient recognition of that comment.
1984 was written about 1948.
Imagine how 2084 will be.
Came to check out the comments from the awake and was pleasantly surprised the first few are all onto it.
But this is what the majority want - big government that controls, dictates and interferes with our lives. That's what's been voted for over the last couple of decades. Anyone proposing smaller government, less interference is immediately shouted down as a hater, fascist, deviant.
Unfortunately that's the sad truth
“Smaller government,” a euphemism for less oversight, gives rich and powerful more control and inevitably leads to oligarchy at best and kleptocracy at worst. That’s the nutshell.
As a rule, perhaps. In the case of western governments (Australia especially), we're all seeing what a significant growth rate in government spending on public programs, welfare, and public sector jobs is doing. Basically stagflation… An economy based on revenue from new migrants and manufactured government jobs. This economy absolutely needs less government, more freedom, properly taxed resources sector, less immigration, which would then correct the housing / rental market on it's own by addressing the demand and supply imbalance.
Poor productivity, no investment in the private sector, no spending control, several pushes to censorship social media, ponzi scheme economy selling out young people that'd literally fall apart if immigration was reduced to a reasonable level. Chalmers is without question the worst Treasurer in the Nation's history. Whether he's making decisions himself or following orders, who knows?
The best they can do is to stop social media and program us to see non believers as racists, prejudice, conspiracy theorists, etc. if questioning any government decision making. And they've tried. He we are.
Chalmers
Have he ever had a job in the private sector ? A high end position that is
@frewer: With his qualifications he would never demand a role of high responsibility in the private / finance sector.
The Minister of Finance, Katy Gallagher, has nothing more than a Bachelor of Arts and was shown in a recent Senate meeting to not understand the difference between a 'net' and 'gross' total. I hope nobody is wondering why we're in the hole we are.
@FXx: Katy Gallagher - ALP's finance minister who doesn't know the difference between net and gross. It's like a Monty Python sketch.
@FXx: Will there be ever a day where politicians go to jail for fraud or mis-spending tax payers money ? Sorry Im not well verse in Oz's laws. Or they will retired with big fat paid check ?
@frewer: Australian politicians don't get charged with fraud, no, they're all in it together. And yes, they can create as much havoc as they wish and still retire at any age, many with packages worth several hundred thousand dollars a year.
Will there be ever a day where politicians go to jail for fraud or mis-spending tax payers money
Lol let's start with Angus Taylor, Barnaby and Watergate then.
Social media has caused more far more problems than our government, but clearly you won't agree with that.
@SlickMick: Social media has a lot to answer that's for sure, but ultimately it's a personal choice to use it.
@R4: Sure, but I can't personally choose for all the morons who believe everything they hear then become part of the problem spreading untruths as if they were facts. My quality of life has been reduced my social media despite my choice to not use it.
@SlickMick: Do you consider the alternative better? Relying on printed media or TV media only? Tightly controlled, manipulated by politicians and big business?
Be careful what you wish for. Open, free media is great, the only negative are uneducated people's inability to take it in and rationalise it. These people are doomed irrespective.
Give intelligent people social media, free media to ingest and decide for themselves what's right and wrong. Either that or have it your way and we're all comfortably dumb.
Give intelligent people social media, free media to ingest and decide for themselves what's right and wrong
Except social media algorithms aren't tuned for factual vs misinformation.
They are tuned for engagement and rage baitGetting free, open, fact based news from social media would be amazing, if it wasn't drowned out due to being algorithmically less pofitable 100:1 by misinformation and propoganda
And 'intelligent people' is a sliding scale these days,
@FXx: Yes, absolutely. It's the same problem: that morons don't check the credibility of the source of information before they believe it. The difference is they used to be decieved by politicians and big business, now it is absolutely anyone. And now they actively participate in trying to make the fake news seem credible. A million sources can't be wrong??
edit: Did you change your post? My reply doesn't seem to address your post anymore - maybe I didn't read it properly the first time.
the only negative are uneducated people's inability to take it in and rationalise it.
Yes, this is the only problem. But it has huge consequences.
These people are doomed irrespective.
If we were dealing with a couple of uneducated people unable/ unwilling to verify sources it wouldn't be an issue. But it's most people.
Do you want to live in a world in which most people are doomed? I believe that's where we're at, but the problem is they will drag us down with them. The effects of large populations believing things that aren't true aren't refined to thier minds - it affects society in general.Give intelligent people social media, free media to ingest and decide for themselves what's right and wrong.
Sure, I'd be happy with this. Social media is only available to those who verify information before they promote it. That would fix the problem.
Either that or have it your way and we're all comfortably dumb.
You believe we were all comfortably dumb before social media? How so?
Yet bigger government means more control, dictation and interference into citizens lives. Getting the balance right is important but right now, the balance is not in the peoples favour
Yes, we're in crony-capitalism and any laws to protect citizens from profiteering, duopolies, anti-competitive practice is in effect watered down by the lack of oversight and policing from government agencies by underfunding them.
Only a mug thinks that less government means more freedom to citizens and it's not in the interest of industry and corporations.
The mantra of small government never gets mentioned by industry lobby groups when it comes to tax concessions, rebates, wage theft, taxpayer grants, and safety. They're like an ex-spouse, what's mine is mine and what's yours is ours.
Don't forget who pays the most tax to government - individuals, never corporations.
I don’t think it’s simply a case of people wanting more government control. I think it’s more complex than that. In many cases, it’s a mix of early conditioning, trust in institutions, and difficulty imagining corruption operating at a large scale.
People tend to believe narratives that align with their existing values. Most individuals genuinely want others to prosper and assume that institutions are designed to serve that goal. Because they themselves are not corrupt, it can be hard for them to comprehend how systemic corruption could take root or persist without being exposed and addressed.
There’s also a psychological element at play. When something falls outside our lived experience, our minds struggle to comprehend it. For example, in high-stress or shocking situations, people sometimes hesitate or fail to react immediately — because their brains are trying to make sense of something they have never been exposed to, and it feels unreal. When an event doesn’t fit our expectations of how the world works, our first reaction is often disbelief.
Another factor is fear. Even when people suspect something isn’t right, challenging powerful systems can feel risky. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered"
Most people have mortgages, careers, and families they’re trying to protect. The fear of destabilising everything they’ve worked so hard for can be a powerful deterrent to speaking out or taking action.So rather than assuming people actively want more control, it may be more accurate to say that a combination of trust, psychological limits, and self-preservation shapes how they respond to political issues.
The nail that sticks out gets hammered
I believe "the squeeky wheel gets oiled" is more common
Doesn't matter whether it's big or small government, none of them are working for our best interests.
They all really work for the trillionaires who have an agenda that is worked out decades in advance and the governments are there to make it law for them.
And they love it when advances in technology like computers and now AI can help them achieve the pre-determined results at a much quicker rate than was initially envisioned.Lets see for example, if a "one world government" or a single "global currency" eventuates in the not-to-distant future, through manipulated world events, economic collapses and wars where "they" try to convince us that a one world government is the only way out of the (their created) mess.
And lets see what and for who AI is predominately put to use for……hint- it isn't going to be for us.Who was it again that Epstein said he was working for? And look how far that "one" person's tentacles had spread throughout the world's government, business, royalty, etc leadership structures, so imagine who is really guiding the world hidden from view behind the "Wizard of Oz" curtain.
No one one the E's list goes to jail is WILD. Turn out pedo actually runs this world
And lets see what and for who AI is predominately put to use for
As I was saying- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15602577/Gerry-Harv…
Knew he'd be first in line.
Every bit of research on tipping points puts the critical mass at roughly 15%.
You don't need everyone and you never did. The desire to submit to authority can be met by any authority. You offer people a positive narrative and their own minds will fill in the gaps. They want to be told they can win, and they'll do anything for you if they truly believe they can.
As such the optimal strategy is to lean into moving the Overton window to a comical degree. It's basic big ask negotiation. It's really easy right now too, given how utterly evil the Cathedral is at present. "A normal life where you are rewarded for hard work and moral conduct" shouldn't be the rallying clarion it is, but the pit of despair in which we currently exist makes it so.
Dystopian? Pretty real yes
I've never read this. Can I take a shortcut by watching the movie?
watch? Go back 4 years ago Australia lived it… it started with "only 2 weeks to flatten the curve…" XD
I haven’t read the book but I did try to watch the movie. Tried my best but could only get through one hour. It was painful. Probably the worst movie I have ever watched in my lifetime.
It’s been more than 40 years since the movie was made. I don’t understand why such a popular book can’t be remade into a more modern and enjoyable movie.Themes and ideas are more important than presentation. 1984 production of “1984” is an excellent film and seen it many times. Should be mandatory viewing. There’s a modernized 2023 version .
"Speculative" they say…
When I was at school we studied this book paired with Brave New World. Brave New World is probably even more prescient of our times than 1984.
https://www.plato-philosophy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/…
Found a freebie online copy of Brave New World.
I hope these are still compulsory reading at our schools.
I know they're not in one certain country we won't name….
Interesting they give this for free when they want ID verification
This is Orwellian
The copyright on this title has expired in Australia. Get it for free, and with no ID verification, from Project Gutenberg Australia in your favourite unencumbered format: text, HTML, EPUB, MOBI. Free to keep and read forever. Once in your possession never to be locked, deleted or modified by a third party.
Do NOT comply!
Thanks OP, how timely
TIL there’s an Apple Books 🫣
yep. another “thing”, so it seems.
yep, I've just started another collection I'm not likely to ever use
When I was young I used to think this book was written by Orson Welles. Orwell = ORson WELLes, get it?
Imagine if Orwell were alive today - he’d probably have a speaking tour and honorary degrees/titles
What if Orson Welles was alive today?
I read it twice in the early 90s and thought it was a bit far-fetched! I was wrong!
Hey you all, the big brother is watching
Thoughtcrime is death. Thoughtcrime does not entail death. Thoughtcrime IS death. I have committed even before setting pen to paper the essential crime that contains all others unto itself.
Heh.. a documentary of now, written 80yrs ago.
"ye best start believin' in dystopias…. you're in one!"
Doubleplusgood
Great read… for the communists out there.
Right now à pretty good warning against Trump’s America as well. Orwell fought against fascists in the Spanish Civil war.
What is fascist about Trump's America in comparison to the administration he replaced? Or Obama's? Is there a difference?
Well he was complaining about the disloyalty of the Supreme courts for a start. The judiciary is independent of the government.
@try2bhelpful: In relation to the tariff ruling, so? How is this fascism? Like many, it seems you don't even understand the meaning of the word. It's OK, you're not alone.
- 1
- 2
Nah, it will never happen…