Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,

we're asked at the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.

To hear it and every episode early and ad-free, plus hours of bonus content, check out

go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves

and the latter for everyone else, David Bryn.

One of the neat things about living in the year of 2044 is that you can walk through what used to be the worst neighborhood in town without fear of being bugged.

There are so many cameras and sensors everywhere, including on the typical pedestrian

and automobile, that you would have to be a ninja to

free the scene of any crime.

There wouldn't be much point anyway.

What little cash anyone carries all has its serial number recorded at every cash register

and by every wallet too, and every device or piece of jewelry worth more than a few bucks has

some sort of serial number or

barcode on it somewhere, and logged on your phone and your cloud backups. Most folks

have their name and basic bio displayed in augmented reality all the time too. It's voluntary

but not impossible to forge, and a lot of people think of it as a basic courtesy, like wearing

a name tag. But everybody else's phone logs who they were and where and when they got

encountered, so does every market and store so they have the data of who is visiting and when.

Many stores don't even let customers in anymore unless they have their ID on.

The official reasoning is it cuts down on shoplifting attempts, but mostly they just want the

traffic data.

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