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I find that nostalgic personalities such as Feynman imply that the authorities of the past were not only evil, but conquered, and therefore, sublimated into the

I find that nostalgic personalities such as Feynman imply that the authorities of the past were not only evil, but conquered, and therefore, sublimated into the dominant mythos of progress. In the post-9/11 world, this mythos is central to the authority of authority: "See? We no longer run overt, clumsy, and brutal humint! We learned our lesson, thanks hippies!" Everyone nods in agreement and dismisses the people saying, "Covert sigint just got cheaper, that's all."

okreallywtf 10y ago
I don't dispute that they have done harm, but I think everyone is getting a little ahead of themselves. We have no idea what it is like (yet) to live in a true police state but judging by the average perception on HN right now about the FBI, CIA, NSA we're getting shaken down in the street daily and spied on in our homes. The truth is much more nuanced and these are massive bureaucracies and if you average the effects of everyone in them and all that they do I honestly don't know whether its a net positive or negative. The problem is if they do something right, we'll likely never know and we can never really know what our lives would be like if they didn't exist. We should fight injustices and be vigilant but I think people understate the good and overstate the bad. If I could wave a wand to do away with them here and now I wouldn't know what to do, but I know I wouldn't do it without question.