Talk:Panopticon

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Contents 1 Date in introduction 2 Original Research? 3 Proposed merge from Panoptic mechanism 4 Panoptic mechanisms 5 Eastern State Penitentiary 6 Which Country? 7 Confusing wording 8 biopower 9 burthen 10 Possible contradictions 11 ...in popular culture 12 Spanish "Punta" comment

[edit] Date in introduction

In reading this quickly it would have been very useful to me to have a date or at least a century mentioned in the 1st sentence. e.g. 'The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the Xth century.'

This has been edited to include the proper dates.

[edit] Original Research?

I can't dispute that call centers use panoptic principles, though it might be overstating to say that they "realise" the panopticon. In any case, statements such as these need to be credited to their source. Wikipedia is not the place for original research. Good citations help verify information and improve the quality of the work. Dystopos 28 June 2005 16:32 (UTC)

[edit] Panoptic mechanisms

A panoptic mechanism is a mechanism of social control based on Foucault’s ideas of the Panopticon and the exertion of discipline onto the body, i.e. biopower. In other words, any apparatus for control that is based on the "inspecting gaze" may qualify as a panoptic mechanism.^{[citation needed]}   Moved —Dogears 15:36, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State was NOT a panopticon. The guards could see down most of the hallways but not into the cells. Unless anyone has objections, I'll remove it.

[edit] Which Country?

It isn't really clear to a casual reader which country the originator comes from. Also the King of which country? Perhaps mention of where Bentham comes from early in the article would help. You only really get an idea of a potential country when you read mention of British place names and the British Empire. I assume Bentham came from Britian? Ozdaren 22:43, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

This has been edited to include the proper country in the first line.

[edit] Confusing wording

I find the last bit of the section "Panoptic prison design" confusing. If you know what is intended, please revise the parts marked here in italics:

"... No true panopticons were built in Britain, and very few anywhere in the British Empire. Although not a Bentham design, Millbank Prison was not a direct application of the Panopticon. It was not a success, nor was it an option." Thanks --Fitzhugh 00:40, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

This section has been deleted.

[edit] biopower

I think that there is a large omission in this entry. There needs to be a section addressing how Michael Foucault used the theory of the panopticon to create his idea of biopower. it's the major use of this theory in 20th century literature, and it really needs to be in here. (Impaler2g19 21:35, 14 November 2006 (UTC))

[edit] burthen

"lighten burthens on society". should this be "burden" instead?

Jeremy Benthan was a late 1700's philosopher that wrote and spoke in relatively 'old english'. The quote is correct.

[edit] Possible contradictions

I tagged the article as contradictory because of the apparent conflict between the statements made in section 2, and the information presented in section 2.1

If I am misreading this, please, anyone, remove the tag. But as I see it, claiming that "No true panopticons were built in Britain, and very few anywhere in the British Empire," and then listing panoptic prisons as existing in Australia, India, and the United Kingdom - this is at best misleading, and at worst wrong. - Sam 11:36, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Edited to include "during Bentham's lifetime". Removed contradiction tag.

[edit] ...in popular culture

Since most of the points in this section are one-sentence blurbs revolving around the entries at Panopticon (disambiguation), I am replacing it all with a simple link to the dab page, and moving the content here to keep in case it is decided that it should be put back.

• Panopticon is an album by the band Isis. It suggests the entire world is now a panopticon, due to the seemingly endless number of satellites surveying the entire globe.

• Silent Hill 4, a survival horror video game, relies heavily on the theme of surveillance and features a panopticon-like structure referred to simply as "Water Prison World."

• Panopticon is used as a literary device to describe how the 'Brethren' control the population in John Twelve Hawks "The Traveller", first book in a trilogy, 2005.

• The Panopticon is a recurring theme in David Mitchell's book number9dream, whose protagonist watches a film of this name about a ricketty prison run by a 'Governer Bentham.'

• The Panopticon is the moon-based headquarters of DC Comics' Ultraman, an evil counterpart of Superman residing in an anti-matter parallel universe.

• Panopticon is the tower where Memnarch, warden of the plane Mirrodin, resides, in the Mirrodin storyline of Magic: The Gathering. It is there that he keeps watch on all of the inhabitants of the plane.

• A Technocratic internal security organisation in the role-playing game Mage: The Ascension is named Panopticon.

• In Doctor Who, the Eye of Harmony is located on the planet Gallifrey beneath a structure called the Panopticon.

• The Panopticon allows the congress of scientists to monitor the population of Bregna in the movie Aeon Flux (film).

• In the video game Deus Ex, the password "panopticon" unlocks a surveillance AI, allowing it to merge with the protagonist.

-Sam 11:55, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spanish "Punta" comment

-the Mexican word "Punta"- was removed because the phrase was simply inserted into a pre-existing sentence and didn't make sense. If it is true please put it in a complete sentence and site it. 129.137.200.85 17:56, 6 December 2006 (UTC)