4 ms·

I know a few, and these people genuinely and completely unironically without a doubt in their mind consider that they're doing the right thing for the greater g

• bruce343434 4y ago
  That's scary. Where to even begin to convince them?
  • mayoi 4y ago
    You cannot. If you need proof to convince you, really look into any revolution that ever happened in human history. It was always the <10%, both on the bad and the good side who did them, while everyone else watched and did nothing - the same people you'd try to convince. The reality is that most people will go wherever life sends them, if their country turns into utopia, they'll think "that's cool I guess", and if it turns into dystopia, they'll only think "that sucks but what can I do anyway", but in neither scenario will they ever do anything themselves. If nothing more, there's a few words for people who are aware of this and actually do something about it, you can read all about them by looking up news articles containing words like "Terrorist", "Public enemy", "Anarchist". In some cases it is thinly veiled in unrelated words like "Nazi" even though if you really think about it, the problem with "Nazis", whatever that even means today, was fascism, same fascism that you're dealing with right now, but it's totally not fascism however because fascism requires Hitler, and trains, and uh, public shootings or something.
    • pushkine 4y ago
      There's actually a way (though it won't happen). Setting up a system that invades privacy to catch crimes is bad because once you have that system, all you need is for your government to criminalize good things to reach a dystopia. In order to avoid that, you'd have to actually run that dystopia, but dramatically and at a small scale. A great example could be a US state where abortion is illegal and gives actual jail time (I think that's a thing, not sure). You have one of those states put into law that online services must scan for the word "abort" then actually find and put women that had illegal abortions to jail over this. If you did that, you might get the congress to make digital privacy a protected right at the national level.
      • immibis 4y ago
        A society where good things are criminalized is already dystopian by definition. Automation is irrelevant.
• sph 4y ago
  Sounds like the average politician. I posit that people that rise to power and at the top of bureaucratic institutions are those diligent and stupid characters Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord was warning us about: "I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent — their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy — they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent — he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief."
• pyb 4y ago
  There are too many "useful idiots" in government circles. Hell is paved with good intentions.