Show and Tell - Circle Headquarters

After reading the beginning of the book, "The Circle," I found myself relating the company The Circle's headquarters to those of tech companies in Silicon Valley such as Apple and Google. The emerging tech industry continues to expand, with certain companies using the profits they have made to grow bigger and better. I chose Apple and Google as the two companies to showcase because the shape of Apple’s Headquarters reminded me specifically of the Circle (because the building is literally being molded into a circle) and Google’s Headquarters’ lifestyle reminded me of the lifestyle in “The Circle.” I presented two short videos to the class to show how Apple and Google are growing and taking over Silicon Valley.

The first video in class I showed centered around Apple's new $5 billion headquarters project, which is funny enough, in the shape of a circle. It has been dubbed by Silicon Valley folks as "The Spaceship."

The video in class showed the installation of the curved glass that went floor to ceiling around the majority of the building. I referenced the idea of panopticism, which we will be discussing at a future time in class - but the main idea is about internal surveillance. The circle shape provides the perfect form for panopticism to ideally function as a behavior modification device.  This idea relates to the book, "The Circle," through which Mae is punished for not being open enough and for not sharing all of the events in her daily life - which leads to this idea of being surveyed all the time. I thought the Apple HQ provided an interesting view into the future of tech companies and surveillance.

The second video I showed in class looked at Google Headquarters. I tried to show how much land Google encompassed in the video, as well as how much technology they have and what they are doing technologically in society. The idea of Google being a type of “campus” or “community” is supposed to make it a fun, friendly space. In “The Circle” they have dorms set up for people to live in on the headquarters campus so people never really have to leave. They literally live, breathe, and sleep their work. Going back to Google, I wanted to specifically note that Google took over other tech company spaces, which just means they are expanding their area around Silicon Valley. Also, Google has data on all of the Google searches worldwide, they have self-driving cars, one of their cars takes street view pictures....Google actually does a lot when you stop and think about it. On top of all that, they have e-mail accounts, as well as phone accounts now that they have merged with Android. 

This all makes me think that if one company were to take over it all - it would probably be Google. They have enough money, technology, and area to make it happen. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that in the coming years, Google takes over Silicon Valley. 

Meanwhile, we'll all still be napping carelessly away in Google's sleeping pods.