Re: Owning a piece of my mind

[Eric Eldred <eldred@mediaone.net>]

Ori Pomerantz wrote:
> 

> > The public doesn't realize what is going on. The technologists
> > who might inform them are too caught up in their value-free
> > technical work to be worried much about these problems.

>         Why should we bother informing "the public"? Because the
> politicians will then listen to them rather than to corrupt corporations
> which contribute money to their campaign funds?
>         All of the information is available in books and on the net. It's
> not possible to inform "the public" in sound bites, because that will not
> allow us to really inform anyone, only make people think they are informed
> so they'll think they know what to do - manipulating them. There are
> resources for people who really wish to understand the technology, both in
> books and on the net (try www.counterpane.com).

Well, who should be making the decisions here?  Maybe I just
have a bias toward having an informed debate on the issues,
and allowing a democratic republic thereby to make better
decisions.  I just would like to have the technical experts
try to face some of the implications of their work, and
realize that the entire society that is affected needs to
have a fuller debate before meekly accepting the consequences.

Of course, not everybody agrees that that is the best way
to do things.  In 1775, maybe the majority of Massachusetts
residents believed that the king was the one to make such
decisions for them.  And so maybe I am naive in thinking that
anything will come of this.  But why not try it before trying
the alternatives?  As they say, the Constitution isn't perfect,
but it's better than what we have now!
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