Been butting up against the quasi-Biblical tradition of “Recording Angels” a bit lately, and mentally connecting it to the over-the-top balls-out surveillance society for which we’re headed:

In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the Recording angel is the messenger of God who records the events, actions, and/or prayers of each individual human. In the Book of Malachi 3:16, the prophet describes Heaven as having angels in conference, and “The LORD took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the LORD and thought on his name.” In Judaic thought, Gabriel is the principal recording angel, as shown in Ezekiel 9:3-4, where he is “the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his side” who put the mark of Passover on Jewish houses in Egypt.

The recording angel used to be featured in the old Gramophone Company logo:

Also just finished reading Philip K. Dick’s excellent “The Man Who Japed” which is a futuristic sci-fi scenario featuring a subplot involving something called “juveniles” which is a species of maybe real maybe mechanical bugs which can fly around and record you doing things that are morally reprehensible in that society, which they then report on you about during “block meetings” where community members anonymously accuse and mistreat one another for things they did or didn’t do.