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You cannot solve a political problem with a technical solution.
by xiaq 7y ago
You cannot solve a political problem with a technical solution.
- samat 7y agoIt's better to approach issues from all sides.
- filoleg 7y agoYou are correct, but you forget that a technological solution like this one can help bringing around the actual social change you are looking for. It is kinda difficult to bring a social change when your major communication and information distribution methods are gutted.
- jmull 7y agoThat's true, but technology can be part of a political solution. In particular, a political solution requires that people be able to communicate (in order to work together), and technology can be a component of that.
- geofft 7y agoSure you can. Weapons research is a very common counterexample; people have been solving political problems with technical solutions ranging from sharpening spear-heads to achieving nuclear chain reactions. (Of course "who is politically right" and "who has the most technical expertise on their side" are at best tenuously related, but that's a different and longstanding problem. If you believe you're politically right and you have technical expertise on your side, use it.)
- thereare5lights 7y agoAre there any non-violent technical solutions? I think we all know that's what that person really meant.
- prepend 7y agoRadio Free Europe is a technical, non-violent solution to a political problem. Viagra solved tiger poaching political problem.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- hellllllllooo 7y agoEncryption, medicine, transportation, food production etc.
- CharlesColeman 7y agoUsing encryption to hide from a repressive regime may just make you a target.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- misterprime 7y agoIs there anything lost if you've already felt that you're a target? Isn't there everything to gain from encouraging everyone to use encryption so that there are too many targets to process?
- geofft 7y agoEncryption also solves the political problem of "I need to communicate plans with my allies across long communications links without my enemies knowing what they are," which can often be opposed to violence (notify people of an opposing military action, evacuate armies or civilians, coordinate a plan to surrender without showing weakness, coordinate a plan to demand the other side surrender by showing so much strength they won't fight, etc.). Much early encryption research was for governments who were already targets to hide data from other governments.
- is_true 7y agoIf encryption is used by most people you can't use it to identify suspicious activity.
- geofft 7y agoElectronic voting machines. Digital signatures on passports. Long-distance communication, whether by telegraph, radio, or satellite. Norman Borlaug's wheat hack. Machine translation. The counting machines that powered the Holocaust (as mentioned, something being a political problem solvable by technical means does not mean it should be solved). Forensic analysis of DNA and fingerprints. Eurovision. Irrigation. Aqueducts. The printing press. I feel like there are many things....
- jakeogh 7y agoElectronic voting isn't a solution, it's an attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_0x6oaDmI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_0x6oaDmI
- nsx147 7y agoBitcoin
- anbop 7y agoWhat was the Manhattan Project?