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I would also suggest that humans are an incredibly social species, and while some of our more complex social behaviors encourage privacy, the vast majority of o

I would also suggest that humans are an incredibly social species, and while some of our more complex social behaviors encourage privacy, the vast majority of our social construct is based on sharing and not privacy. There are very fundamental reasons why social media sites are the largest human networks ever created. The defensive position for privacy in western psyches are also very correlated to modern history coming from extreme social change around religion, the world wide trauma of the holocaust and WW2, and more generally rapid social change as a whole which threatens our tribal motivations. Our species ability to closely integrate as a pack is almost as fundamental to our success as is our pattern recognition. If we can survive the rapid breakdown of tribalism(interpret as social association) that we are traveling through now, and arrive out the other side, privacy will certainly then be a hindrance too the species progress in that future. Pattern recognition is the trait that enables us, and the gasoline for that engine is Data.

curioussavage 10y ago
I think the conclusions here are too vague and sweeping to have any merit. Privacy enables civilization. Without it we get tyranny. Primitive societies had little to no privacy and the idea that one day "humanity" will be so enlightened that the many compelling reasons for privacy will be outweighed by the benefits of having tons of data is unfounded imo.
absconder 10y ago
Those are such sweeping conclusions about human nature and it's future course. Privacy has been a fundamental part of humanity forever, as was sharing. Obviously, as this is even the case for many animals, including those we evolved from. Privacy is incredibly important today, as it has been forever. Simply looking at how humans learn, change and adapt to different contexts, it would be impossible to imagine our current civilization without privacy. If you take away a specific person's privacy, you would significantly dampen their social and intellectual development. Perhaps you envision a future of perfectly rational beings where nobody would be harmed by killing privacy, but we don't even know how one could get there. Implying that we can, will or should change our nature in this respect is an idea from the wildest of scifi dreams. Perhaps, some day, but we have achieved so much while being these tribal, silly humans, and we'll probably achieve so much more without/before significantly changing our nature. I'm not sure why one would even want to give up privacy. Many of our biological features seem useless to us as modern humans, but I don't see how privacy is one, whether from a practical, philosophical or enjoyment standpoint.

curioussavage 10y ago

I think the conclusions here are too vague and sweeping to have any merit. Privacy enables civilization. Without it we get tyranny. Primitive societies had little to no privacy and the idea that one day "humanity" will be so enlightened that the many compelling reasons for privacy will be outweighed by the benefits of having tons of data is unfounded imo.

absconder 10y ago

Those are such sweeping conclusions about human nature and it's future course. Privacy has been a fundamental part of humanity forever, as was sharing. Obviously, as this is even the case for many animals, including those we evolved from. Privacy is incredibly important today, as it has been forever. Simply looking at how humans learn, change and adapt to different contexts, it would be impossible to imagine our current civilization without privacy. If you take away a specific person's privacy, you would significantly dampen their social and intellectual development. Perhaps you envision a future of perfectly rational beings where nobody would be harmed by killing privacy, but we don't even know how one could get there. Implying that we can, will or should change our nature in this respect is an idea from the wildest of scifi dreams. Perhaps, some day, but we have achieved so much while being these tribal, silly humans, and we'll probably achieve so much more without/before significantly changing our nature. I'm not sure why one would even want to give up privacy. Many of our biological features seem useless to us as modern humans, but I don't see how privacy is one, whether from a practical, philosophical or enjoyment standpoint.