Forget Orwell's Big Brother: 'Big Mother' explores algorithmic control wrapped in comfort

In “1984,” George Orwell imagined Big Brother as the face of totalitarian surveillance: an omnipresent eye watching people from every corner. But what if the power watching us today looks less like a tyrant and more like a caretaker? Welcome to the age of “Big Mother.” Soft and ever attentive, this new form of big-data authority does not bark orders. Instead, it gathers data, manages algorithms, anticipates desires and gently nudges people toward certain ways of thinking — like an all-seeing mot