TL;DRXprize founder Peter Diamandis says total surveillance makes people behave better, joining Larry Ellison in endorsing a world with no privacy.
Xprize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis has joined a growing list of tech executives who believe global surveillance is a good idea, writing on X this week that “humans behave better when they’re being watched.” In a Substack essay titled “Visibility, Transparency and Trust,” he described what he called “radical transparency” as inevitable and positive, envisioning a future “where you can know anything, anytime, anywhere” and where “no one can hide.”
Diamandis said his thinking was shaped by a podcast interview with Will Marshall, CEO of Planet, the largest operator of Earth-observing satellites. “No one can hide anymore,” Marshall told Diamandis during the conversation, citing the company’s ability to image every square metre of the planet daily. Marshall pointed to Ukraine as an example, arguing that Planet’s satellite imagery exposed Russia’s military buildup before the 2022 invasion and put it on the front page of newspapers worldwide.
The comments echo Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who told an Oracle financial analyst event in September 2024 that “citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on.” Ellison predicted that AI would process footage from dashboard cameras, doorbells, and police body cameras to create a surveillance network where every officer is supervised at all times. Diamandis frames it as transparency rather than control, but the end state he describes is structurally identical.
