The conversation about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) has now passed from the halls of nerdism to the House of Representatives and industry and has landed squarely on America's kitchen table. 

Yes, even digitally-challenged folks are now getting worried about the surge of interest (and adoption) of artificial intelligence as they rush forward into a brand new year. 

Over the last few decades, we've watched as technology has rapidly outpaced our ability to understand it and much of it is due to digitalization. We've seen facial/fingerprint recognition, holography and RFID (radio frequency identification) become the new 'policemen' of our society, as we sleepwalk towards the future where personal identification/tracking and unchecked surveillance replace our right to be left alone. 

This march to that brave new world is not limited to North America; it's everywhere, even in small countries like Denmark that embraced a system of "My ID" as a digital key to access nearly everything. It all started many years ago with the issuance of a 'CPR' or personnummer (a citizen identification number not unlike that of our SSN), given at birth right next to your baby hand- and footprints. This accompanied a national ID card. Now, everything in Denmark is tied to that nom de nombre whether it's a library card or a bank account or accessing government services.

The Danes have, since the end of WWII, been relatively early adopters of technology that could help in organizing their lives and improving efficiency. Having few natural resources apart from agriculture, the Danes' desire to be more efficient and fully utilize those resources has been a driving force to modernize and go with the flow of new technology throughout this tiny country. Improved efficiency is a double-edged sword, however. It has replaced the average citizen's right to live off-grid -- alone and undisturbed. Denmark's physical size and its small population of 5.6 million has also enabled it to adopt what I call BST or benign surveillance technology. Because of the promise of economy of scale and the relatively low cost of introducing new technology to such a small homogeneous population the Danes have made their bargain with the devil over the possible abuse of too much surveillance.