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Are there any non-violent technical solutions? I think we all know that's what that person really meant.

prepend 8y ago
Radio Free Europe is a technical, non-violent solution to a political problem. Viagra solved tiger poaching political problem.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
hellllllllooo 8y ago
Encryption, medicine, transportation, food production etc.
- CharlesColeman 8y ago
  Using encryption to hide from a repressive regime may just make you a target.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - misterprime 8y ago
    Is 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 8y ago
    Encryption 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 ago
    If encryption is used by most people you can't use it to identify suspicious activity.
geofft 8y ago
Electronic 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 ago
  Electronic 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

Radio Free Europe is a technical, non-violent solution to a political problem. Viagra solved tiger poaching political problem.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

hellllllllooo 8y ago

Encryption, medicine, transportation, food production etc.

CharlesColeman 8y ago
Using encryption to hide from a repressive regime may just make you a target.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- misterprime 8y ago
  Is 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 8y ago
  Encryption 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 ago
  If encryption is used by most people you can't use it to identify suspicious activity.

geofft 8y ago

Electronic 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 ago
Electronic 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