This coming June, British author George Orwell's dystopian novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," marks the 70th anniversary of its publication. In the United States, Penguin has announced plans for a special 75,000-copy reprint. According to The New York Times, the publisher noted that, sales of the novel have increased by 9,500 percent since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Demonstrating remarkable foresight, Orwell envisaged a terrifying future in which a "Big Brother" government would harness tools to watch each and every one of us. When Winston Smith, the book's protagonist, wanted to meet his illicit lover, he was forced to take extreme measures to avoid a two-way device called a "telescreen," described as follows:
"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard."