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It sounds downright Orwellian. The government, its banks, payment processors all having the ability to instantly lock you out of the economy and watch your ever
by miend 10y ago
It sounds downright Orwellian. The government, its banks, payment processors all having the ability to instantly lock you out of the economy and watch your every transaction, leaving you totally out of options should you get on their bad side?
That just sounds like another building block in the surveillance Panopticon, psychological assurance that you'll never become dissentious because your continued existence in the economy essentially depends upon the state's grace. It changes the way people act, and even the way they think. It's the disturbing new reality that Snowden, Greenwald, et al. have sought to do something about, and here Swedes seem to be embracing it openly.
It sure sounds like this service could offer some great conveniences to daily living, but is it worth such a heavy price? The erosion of the will to dissent, and the power of the individual over their own lives? Are these an acceptable trade for the comfort of never having to see a coin again?
- bjornsing 10y ago> The erosion of the will to dissent, and the power of the individual over their own lives We Swedes are way past that. We live as humble subjects of our government, cuddled from cradle to grave, bowing to their authority much as we once bowed to the king. :P But every four years the people is abolished and the government choses a new one, so it's still a democracy! ;P
- bjornsing 10y agoI'm only half joking here, and I'm definitely not saying you're wrong. Just trying to explain why we Swedes probably don't think about the cashless society in the same way as americans do. And by the way, most of my friends would probably describe me as "a borderline libertarian" (by Swedish standards), "fixated" on individual liberties and similar.