>From: Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net>
>
>Zero Powers wrote:
>
> > Spike I'm also enjoying Brin's book. But he seems to waffle over
>whether he
> > thinks complete transparency is a good idea, which makes me think that
>maybe
> > I am a little bit too extremist in my own views. Oh well, wasn't there
>a
> > thread around here lately about value of extremists? :)
>
>Exactly! Anyone who has read my comments on openness and
>infonudism over the past year knows Ive waffled more than Bill
>Clinton regarding whether a transparent society is good or bad.
>There will be winners and losers. One big loser I can think of
>is the local porno shop owner, just struggling to make a decent
>living like the rest of us, will lose the patronage of the local
>ministerial trade, not to mention most of the deacons, choir, etc.
>Thats just one example, but abuses are easy to imagine. My
>earlier comments on the MikeTracker and the sphexcam are
>two others.
>
>Im with you, Zero, in that the tranparent society will probably
>make it much harder on would-be despots, but we could lose
>some freedoms to do ordinary legal naughtiness which we
>might not want our spouses or coworkers to know about.
>It isnt as simple as admitting to everyone all our bad habits.
>Brin is right to point out that the transparent society is a mixed
>blessing/curse.
I agree. Although I'm convinced (so far) that the blessings would outweigh
the curses, I agree that there will be times when even *I* would curse the
confounded system. But isn't that the case with any useful technology? Who
doesn't love the freedom and autonomy of getting in your car and going where
you want? At the same time who doesn't hate the noise and air polution they
cause? As with anything else in life you have to take the good with the
bad.
-Zero
"I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
--Thomas Jefferson
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