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> Why not strive for it? Well... the idealistic part of me agrees, why not? I'd love to see a world where everyone treated everyone else without prejudice or m
by balabaster 8y ago
> Why not strive for it?
Well... the idealistic part of me agrees, why not? I'd love to see a world where everyone treated everyone else without prejudice or malice formed by growing up with the stereotypes we do, but ignorance is still widespread and education lacking. I'd love for a world where our differences were celebrated rather than feared and hated. I'd love for this information to be used benevolently to eradicate disease or to genetically fix hereditary conditions that cause us pain or significantly degrade our quality of life.
They say that everything worth having is on the other side of fear, and I subscribe to this notion. But I fear that humanity in its present form isn't mature enough to adapt quickly enough for many millions of people not to suffer during the interim.
Much good has come in the aftermath of WWII, in fact I would say the good has far outweighed the bad when you consider how far we've come since then. Do I believe that millions of Jews should have died for that progress? No. I don't, and I never will. Do I believe we should have been able to get where we are today without that? Yes, I do. Do I believe we would have? Unfortunately, I do not.
> Showing me what I'm looking for is great. I'd pay for that. Do you think Company X is evil for providing services and products that are perfectly compatible with my needs? They get access to my wallet because they do something great and I'm happy to encourage them.
If they do only what they prescribe on the tin, that's great. Unfortunately, you know as well as I do that this doesn't happen. The data is sold on to other less scrupulous companies and where it can be exploited and used against us in an unregulated fashion. This is why the GDRP and the Data Protection Act came into being in the U.K. and Europe.
> What if I see you crossing the street? Am I supposed to keep that for myself? Should we ban surveillance cameras, drones, sensors, GPS trackers, etc? Should people really own any data that intersects with themselves? None of this seems at all reasonable.
Am I doing anything wrong by crossing the street? What difference does it make if you saw me crossing the street? Are you going to use or release that information to someone to use against me?
I'm from the U.K. so public surveillance is something that I've become used to, and in fact complacent about over the years. When I'm in public, I expect to have my person and my actions on public display. This means I self censor and show people who I want them to see. This doesn't mean you know me. This doesn't mean the world at large knows me. The only things you know about me aside from how I behave are the things I want you to know about me. Just because you want to know something about me, doesn't give you the right to know that information, unless I choose to disclose it to you.