Which works regarding the philosophy of technology are (directly or indirectly) related to surveillance?
>>7610758
It would be an extraordinary novel if done correctly. People who like technological answers to historic problems can argue that the stirrup providing knights with the ability to seriously dominate peasants/infantry. The invention of the crossbow and the first military revolution (1300-1350), allowed the weakening of the knight and cavalry which enable peasants more rights from the state. The further military revolutions decentralized the power of the state over individual citizens and by the measure of some military/state security apparatus orientated historians, allowed for greater degrees of freedom to individuals.
But the industrial revolution gave increasing power to people with capital to ensure their power. Consider chemical weapons which allow a single man to murder thousands in a cloud of gas if he chooses.
Surveillance though is primarily about deterring actions against the status quo in politico-military action, or against the society at hand in the case of crime.
Either way, the police state only exists so long as it compels people to act by the threat of force and not by the enactment of force.