f_salmon's comments

For NSA too.

What I dislike (not specifically about your project, that is!) is the idea that, as a society, we're incentivized to increasingly hide behind our screens instead of growing some balls an actually live in the "real life". Here, we're talking about dating. The other current topic: how we intend to fight democracy-destroying mass surveillance by (apparently) simply sitting behind our screens.

Asymmetry is used to dominate others. Asymmetry is generated via wealth imbalance (rich dominate poor) and now also via information imbalance (government/banks/tech companies dominate the consumer/citizen).

We are created equal and should therefor have the same rights. Asymmetry in wealth and information kills this principle.

Whenever governments get additional power to track what citizens do (and ultimately think), citizens need to gain an additional degree of transparency regarding its government [0], so the system keeps its balance. If that does not happen - and obviously the opposite is the case for a very long time now - the degree of abuse of the new power imbalance will continue to increase, at the cost of the citizen.

[0] (This is something the President has emphasized, but his actions have, as we must expect from every politician, gone in the opposite direction - including the persecution of whistleblowers.)

The concept of "open source" should be part of school education.

We don't need thousands of proprietary version of the same thing. That's a HUGE waste of resources on literally every level.

All we need is 1 version that is accessible, clone-able, and modifiable for everybody.

Imagine where humanity could be today if we had used that approach right from the start and for every single product out there.

- Teach others to take advantage of it

Here you go: http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/

An all-in-one communication solution that is:

- encrypted (public key, as we're supposed to)

- 100% decentralized

- open-source

No, actually not. The current state of research in quantum physics makes it look like there is randomness. But the thing about randomness is: Nobody has any control over it. So again, life (and the universe) may not be fully deterministic, but we have no absolute responsibility for whatever happens (only a relative one, relative to our culture, that is).

> Also it assumes no social interaction with others

No, of course we have social interactions, which influence us. But they are themselves a function of 1) our genes (i.e. whom we approach or not) and 2) our initial location (with all its properties).

> At the start of the game, you had no control over who you were or your environment. By the end of the game that becomes true again.

This implies that you have some sort of control between the start and the end - which is completely untrue, because:

What genes you get from your parents and in what environment you are put will determine everything that will happen in your head. And everything that happens in your life, has its inception in your head (over which you could never have the slightest control).

This is also the reason why whe should all have the same rights (and wealth), independently of the fact of how well we were (and therefor now are) "equipped": There is no such thing as a "free will".

Everything in your life is nothing but a function of 2 variables:

1) Your inherited genes

2) Your inherited initial location

It means we can never be judged by anyone.

EDIT: The above is not based on any beliefs (as in "religious" beliefs), it's pure logic. (So, when I wrote "is completely untrue", I meant "is completely illogic".)

EDIT II: Sorry, I can't recommend any literature for this. It's all based on my own thinking.

But actually, you don't need any book, because I can't call this a "worldview", I can only call it: "100% pure logic". (Meaning: no cultural/religious/otherwise arbitrary beliefs allowed.)

So, if you can think logically and are willing to do some mental work, you - and everybody else who does it - will automatically get there. That's kind of the beauty of logic - it's the only thing/law in the universe that seems to be an absolute/unquestionable truth, everything else being invented by somebody.

In other words, it can be summed up as 1 way to make democracy more direct. (The problem is, Washington with its ever-increasing level of corruption, is never going to want a more direct democracy.)

No more lobbying (= legalized corruption).

But how are you going to do that when rich people are already in power and are using their financial dominance to protect their monopoly of power?

But any communication system that is built for the future must at least be (public-key) encrypted.

Then you, make it 100% decentralized and you're ready for our time where unlimited mass surveillance seems acceptable for "democratic" governments.

Yes, we shouldn't stop at being surprised. We should put our actions where our surprise/shock is and do something about it.

For example: leave your mobile phone permanently in flight mode and just all the other features, like agenda, clock, etc (or leave it always at home, if you don't have a landline anymore).

I like how the UK gov thinks of "democracy".

> However, the prime minister has previously said that: "I'm satisfied that the work these agencies do is not only vital but is properly overseen."

Ok, we can go back to sleep then. Thanks a lot, Mr. Cameron.