Surveillance is All About the (Software) Brain

Eyes are important, don't get me wrong. So are ears, noses, tongues, fingers, balance calibration organs and everything else that feeds that massive brain of yours.1 Salinity detectors in narwhals, electrical sensors in freshwater bottom feeders, echolocation in bats all provide sensory input that humans couldn't adequately process. Every beast has its own senses relevant to its own living conditions. Even your smartphone has cameras, microphones, gyroscopes, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, interfaces for phone/GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi, and some have a barometer, proximity sensors, and ambient light sensors. Biometric sensing equipment in today's phones can include optical, capacitive or ultrasonic fingerprint readers and an infrared map sensor for faces.