Who Decides Your Next Phone Call?

What if your wireless provider decided your next call?  Since they have the information available to know exactly when to make a call and what time of day is the cheapest, and potentially when someone on your contact list might be available, then maybe they should be making your calls for you?  Sound stupid?  Of course it does, but what if it became like that?

Really, you could give full access and decision-making power to your phone company and let them decide when it’s best for you to talk to the next person.  They could keep track of your calls, how often you like to talk to someone, how often someone likes to be talked to, and much more.  They could use the tracking information to decide when you should contact someone because you happen to be in the same town, so hey, let the phone ring.

I know, it starts to get a little complex.  What if the person your carrier decides to call is your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend?  What if you recently broke up and now you are on a date with the next person who you had really been hoping to go out with for some time?  There are many ways this can get messed up, become uncomfortable, or be a deal breaker.  How much information would the carrier need to know about you just to avoid making mistakes on your behalf?

What if you are driving?  Wouldn’t the carrier need to know if you are driving or in the middle of some other important activity, like brain surgery, so you are not distracted and have an accident?  They would really need to know much more information in order to maintain safety.  Maybe it would be important to know if you are eating, feeding the baby, taking a shower… because, after all, wouldn’t they need to know if the timing is right for a phone call?  Certainly!  And the more effective you want the carrier to be in managing this, the more you need to be willing to turn over as much information as possible.

What if you are sick but your carrier insists you make or take a call because the timing is right for your computerized communication schedule?  What if you are in the bathroom?  What if you are already on a call?  It seems that if you fail to comply, fail to answer when the system thinks you should, you may somehow be penalized and the next thing you know, some important person on your list is no longer called because the system now believes you won’t answer.  Possibly this level of service will incite you to turn the phone off, since the more people you know, the more it will ring, the more failures to answer will occur, and drive you nuts!  In the theatre, while flying, at your kid’s recital… what if you are a trapeze artist or human fly?  Okay, by now you get the picture.

But the real picture is of socialism in government.  How much are you willing to allow the government to do the same thing through social programs like healthcare?  How much should the government know about you in order to interfere in your life and ability to make decisions?  How much should the government “ring your phone” and decide when you should do certain things because of convenience based on expense, failure of others, and even mortality?  How much socialism do you really want in place, since the more socialism controls the more it needs to know in order to make decisions for you?  How much of your money, land, and freedom should the government take in order to manage your life, even on behalof of others?  It’s just as stupid as the phone carrier making your next call.  Ironically, the government seems to be gathering the data to make your next call… already.