I feel like people are somehow stupider.

In Australia in the 80s there was very strong opposition to the introduction of tax file numbers, similar to a social security number I guess - merely a unique identifier for tax paying citizens. It was considered an over reach by the government, and an unnecessary way to track and monitor citizens.

Now 45 years later those same people who were resistant to this type of identifier, like my parents, are nodding along with the conservatives who are trying to implement AI surveillance everywhere saying how necessary it is to protect us all from evil crime doers.