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You yourself are admitting that terrible evil can be done by governments without any of the advanced technology that some fret over. It's not about the technol

You yourself are admitting that terrible evil can be done by governments without any of the advanced technology that some fret over. It's not about the technology. It's about the will of the government. Think about all the horrendous evils rendered upon the citizenry of early nations and empires in the distant past. No advanced technology there. Just a twisted view of right and wrong. What this tells us is that regardless of what technology is available, a good government will do good, and an evil government will do evil. That really goes for any entity. You name it.

hrktb 9y ago
Sure it’s about the will of the gorvening body. Then you’ll have to agree a good bunch of current western societies have governments willing to do evil or let evil be done for a reason or another. Nothing is black and white, but the current trends about how people are equaly treated and human life is valued is still in the darker greys in my opinion.
Bucephalus355 9y ago
Ok you’re definitely right with the technology thing not being an issue to “govs killing lots of people”. Let me say that currently, because the technologies are new, not well understood, and not regulated by any kind of international treaty or norms (even national regulations sometimes) they can and will be abused in ways that are hard for other countries to protest against in a credible manner. In China during The Great Famine under Mao, 50 million people died. I know numbers and history can seem so distant, but that’s more than the number of people who died in WWI and near the low end of estimates for WWII (especially the early estimates). It was insanity on a level no society has ever perpetuated. A good example of this was that 40% of all structures were torn down during this period. Incredible. It’s all probably worse than we know too due to a lack of records and archives that individuals have access too. The National Book Award winner this year was about Russian totalitarianism called “The Future is History”. If this is true, the future is a much worse place for the Chinese people.
wu-ikkyu 9y ago
Why are you so eager to ignore the effects of technology? You'll notice in history that the biggest wars/massacres were committed with revolutionary technologies.
rebuilder 9y ago
I worry that technology can leave no room for anything except dystopias. For example, it seems privacy is going to become a thing of the past, and there's little we can do about it short of smashing the looms.

hrktb 9y ago

Sure it’s about the will of the gorvening body. Then you’ll have to agree a good bunch of current western societies have governments willing to do evil or let evil be done for a reason or another. Nothing is black and white, but the current trends about how people are equaly treated and human life is valued is still in the darker greys in my opinion.

Bucephalus355 9y ago

Ok you’re definitely right with the technology thing not being an issue to “govs killing lots of people”. Let me say that currently, because the technologies are new, not well understood, and not regulated by any kind of international treaty or norms (even national regulations sometimes) they can and will be abused in ways that are hard for other countries to protest against in a credible manner. In China during The Great Famine under Mao, 50 million people died. I know numbers and history can seem so distant, but that’s more than the number of people who died in WWI and near the low end of estimates for WWII (especially the early estimates). It was insanity on a level no society has ever perpetuated. A good example of this was that 40% of all structures were torn down during this period. Incredible. It’s all probably worse than we know too due to a lack of records and archives that individuals have access too. The National Book Award winner this year was about Russian totalitarianism called “The Future is History”. If this is true, the future is a much worse place for the Chinese people.

wu-ikkyu 9y ago

Why are you so eager to ignore the effects of technology? You'll notice in history that the biggest wars/massacres were committed with revolutionary technologies.

rebuilder 9y ago

I worry that technology can leave no room for anything except dystopias. For example, it seems privacy is going to become a thing of the past, and there's little we can do about it short of smashing the looms.