On Fri, 2013-06-14 at 12:30 -0400, [email protected] wrote: > Keep in mind that it (e.g. SCI) necessarily leads to distributed control > mechanisms. So it's not a simple distinction between citizens opting for > strong/big vs. weak/small government.
Technology encourages the concentration of control in the same way that it encourages the concentration of wealth. As the state is more tightly coupled with technology (including legal entities like the corporation) it encourages centralized control. It can be (approximately) simplified into a citizen's choice between exploiting that economy of scale versus trying to isolate themselves from the state. Again, it's not a simple dichotomy because engagement with the state can be regulated by the individual. The only sense in which Obama (and Ben Franklin) can be right that it's a tradeoff between privacy and security is if we allow trivial and banal things to be classified as "freedoms". Personally, I'm a bit tired of _entitled_ people running around complaining when anything bad happens to them. Oh my God, I have the _right_ to buy Ben & Jerry's ice cream at my local grocery store and don't you dare take that away!!! Rights are not inborn or granted by some sacred document held in some museum. They are earned and defended. Some are worth the effort. Most are not. In other words, if people want their privacy, then they need to work to ensure it. If we don't see them work to ensure it, then we can conclude that they don't actually want it. -- ⇒⇐ glen e. p. ropella Come to me i'm your living crop circle...yeah ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
