Master's Thesis – The Helsinki Program

The Helsinki Program: An Office of American Design Initiative Inspired by Finland’s maternity package – a box of essential items provided by the government to expectant parents – the Helsinki Program is a speculative exploration of what a similar program might look like in a future, dystopian United States. The project supposes a period of extreme social unrest resulting in an elected government that is increasingly forthright about its surveillance of individuals. Distrust among citizens has made many Americans willing at least to accept – and often eager to embrace – readily acknowledged encroachments on personal privacy. The Helsinki Program provides families with cutting-edge, dual-purpose home, health, and entertainment technologies that improve quality of life while simultaneously collecting vast amounts of audiovisual and digital data. The core of the Helsinki Program is an endeavor dubbed Project Tik-Tok which places artificially intelligent toys/companions with state-of-the-art surveillance capabilities into private residences.