We can say it wasn't sold as a spy system. But we also say that technocracy would require all devices to be connected. Languages such as java were designed with that in mind. So, perhaps playing up the social connectivity is the means to gain ubiquitous adoption.
If you think reality is just 'naturally unfolding' you will object to this. But if you think reality is somewhat directed, that our future is sketched out (even if we are unaware of the plans), I think what I say is plausible.
Obviously I don't think reality is simply unfolding. I note that many single social events that has occurred in recent years has resulted in incremental steps towards a technocratic surveillance system. Eg, constraints to travel with 911, perpeutual surveillance, advances towards a biomedical-banking-id. We move incrementally towards a dystopia none of us would ever agree to - but it happens so slowly, it seems to be beyond perception.
As someone else mentioned - the directions are blamed on the 4 horsemen of the infocalypse - terrorists, pedos, etc but if you look it is the individual's freedoms that are lost.
We can reasonably conclude the internet was not created to spy on citizens, it was created for military connectivity. One could suggest the World Wide Web was created for espionage, but that again requires several leaps with respect to its early creators, most of whom have shown a lifelong dedication to a vision of human freedom that far exceeds the population’s central tendency.
Was the rollout of the WWW and internet to the masses motivated, in part, by domestic surveillance desires? Sure. Almost no question about it. But was that a guiding aim? No, at least not in America, not until the project was well underway.
verisimi|4 years ago
We can say it wasn't sold as a spy system. But we also say that technocracy would require all devices to be connected. Languages such as java were designed with that in mind. So, perhaps playing up the social connectivity is the means to gain ubiquitous adoption.
If you think reality is just 'naturally unfolding' you will object to this. But if you think reality is somewhat directed, that our future is sketched out (even if we are unaware of the plans), I think what I say is plausible.
Obviously I don't think reality is simply unfolding. I note that many single social events that has occurred in recent years has resulted in incremental steps towards a technocratic surveillance system. Eg, constraints to travel with 911, perpeutual surveillance, advances towards a biomedical-banking-id. We move incrementally towards a dystopia none of us would ever agree to - but it happens so slowly, it seems to be beyond perception.
As someone else mentioned - the directions are blamed on the 4 horsemen of the infocalypse - terrorists, pedos, etc but if you look it is the individual's freedoms that are lost.
JumpCrisscross|4 years ago
We can reasonably conclude the internet was not created to spy on citizens, it was created for military connectivity. One could suggest the World Wide Web was created for espionage, but that again requires several leaps with respect to its early creators, most of whom have shown a lifelong dedication to a vision of human freedom that far exceeds the population’s central tendency.
Was the rollout of the WWW and internet to the masses motivated, in part, by domestic surveillance desires? Sure. Almost no question about it. But was that a guiding aim? No, at least not in America, not until the project was well underway.
ClumsyPilot|4 years ago
Opponents are sending spies, we are gathering intelligence.
They are terrorists, but we are freedom fighters.
Mafia doesn't do racketeering, they offer protection, etc.