More on Spies

I am partway through a unit study on spies. I have studied spies who date from the time of Sun Tzu, in 500 BC, to the latest modern spy planes that can fly at many times the speed of sound. The use of technology has greatly changed, too. Ancient spies used nothing but their eyes and memory on a mission; now, a night vision camera with a 16x zoom is considered outdated. My opinion is that while the skills required to be a spy have greatly changed, they are no less numerous. For example, while skill with a sword is no longer needed in the profession, an extensive knowledge of programming languages and how to install phone bugs are mandatory in the 21st century.

Despite the new technology available, some jobs just cannot be performed by a human being. More and more jobs are being handed over to robots and drones, who are expendable, unlike human lives. Spy planes and surveillance cameras are being put into extensive use throughout the world. Great Britain alone, for example, has over 4,000,000 cameras. With a population of 51,092,000, that is one camera for every 12 citizens. Spy planes are used for spying and surveillance, as well. They are capable of flying so high that they are impossible to target with missiles, and can take hi-rez pictures of the earth below them. Whatever the age or method, spying has changed the world, for better or for worse, and has shaped much of our culture and society.