Smartphone cameras have exceeded all our expectations in terms of performance.

You are now able to take shots in low light or during night time, zoom at incredible depths, and with millions of pixels to fill the pictures.

All this from a single pocket-sized device.

While we immerse ourselves into the ocean of detail rendered by current camera devices, private companies like China’s Jingkun Technology (known as Big Pixel) have already developed cutting-edge tech that you can’t even grasp using imagination.

Their latest panorama image boasts a whooping 195 gigapixels.

That’s thousands of times greater than any commercially available, top-of-the-line camera device out there.

And on a pixel scale, that’s 195 multiplied a billion times, since that’s how many pixels fit into a gigapixel.

Taken from atop the Oriental Tower in Shanghai, the shot reveals a stunning amount of details.

Although captured from one of the tallest skyscrapers, zooming in on it will let you see people’s faces and reactions, car plate numbers, reflections, and mostly anything you would see if you were standing in very close proximity to an object or person.

Since the panorama is so rich in details, you will see exactly what I’m talking about by accessing the official website where the image is hosted.

I know that some of you might rejoice at this incredible achievement, and you probably should.

However, from a privacy perspective, this crosses all boundaries and redefines the saying “there is no hiding from us.”

Keep in mind that we’re not even talking about military-grade technology here.

And because this is happening in China prior to the nation-wide initiation of their “social score” system, things are looking even more disturbing.

In other words, the all-seeing-eye of technology will peek into every corner of your life to check if you are an obedient and dutiful citizen.

And don’t think this will happen only in China, as such intrusive forms of social control will follow suit shortly in other places of the world, until eventually enveloping it all.

Of course, the Chinese social score initiative and breakthrough surveillance tech all wear the cape of innovation.

In fact, China plans to step up its game by 2035 and turn in the “global leader in innovation.”

After massively relying on the Western technological development until recently, President Xi Jinping has initiated a national strategy for “innovation-driven” development that should not only catch up with the West’s achievements, but also outperform them.

The main ambition of Beijing is in the field of quantum technology. Tens of billions will go into this initiative over the course of the next decade.

By 2030, the Chinese “megaproject” aims to cross boundaries in quantum communication and computing so far unexplored.

On the bucket list are the expansion of China’s national quantum communications infrastructure, the construction of a functional quantum computer prototype and an operable quantum simulator.

More than $1 billion in initial funding has already been directed towards building China’s national laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences, which aims to become a key resource in future quantum research and development.

It is still uncertain if Xi’s mega initiative will yield the desired results, but reaching the forefront of quantum science could be the only way to turn the power balance from Washington to Beijing, so the Chinese are playing their cards the best they know.

While all this innovation could make a positive impact on the entire world, I fear that somebody, at some point in time, will use all this to supress and control members of society.

Time will tell how this will eventually pan out. Until then, it would be wise to prepare for what’s to come, because there’s no longer a matter of if it will happen, but when it will occur.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think China will succeed in tilting the power and innovation balance in its favour?