The 18th century prison that predicted the rise of our global surveillance society

We think about surveillance as a contemporary phenomenon. It's not.

It all goes back to an 18th century prison design called the panopticon. If you've ever watched Guardians of the Galaxy or Lord of the Rings, or binged the TV series Oz, you'll have seen it. But you might not have realised that you were looking different versions of the same thing.

In this episode, we trace the routes of this prison through popular culture – and explore just how eerily accurate it was at foreshadowing the ways we're constantly being watched today.

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