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> But we see that societies and systems can work -- sort of -- because we, collectively, with good judgment and sincere effort and appreciation for context and

> But we see that societies and systems can work -- sort of -- because we, collectively, with good judgment and sincere effort and appreciation for context and nuance, make them work. In the spirit of this mini-essay, what happens when the centralised "collective we" goes berserk? Or treats some other parts of society as having gone berserk? Also, and partially related to this, I'm surprised that not that many thoughts have been given to the fact that most of the anti-Covid measures, especially in the tech-heavy West (but not only, see also China or Singapore), were in fact pseudo-infosec measures "adapted" to real life. I mean many of us were forced to use our smart-phones plus some dedicated apps just to be let in inside a coffee shop, or a bookstore, or just to take the bus.

trompetenaccoun 4y ago
The issue is that - and the same is true for the IT scene at large - many of the authors are disconnected from reality. It's like Marxian economics: Works great in theory when you're thinking it up all in your mind, sitting at your desk. Math is like that and coding too. Real humans are not machines though and society is immensely complex, with billions of semi-independent highly intelligent actors in different situations and with disparate goals. They are not going to behave the way the average infosec "expert" thinks they will. >I'm surprised that not that many thoughts have been given to the fact that most of the anti-Covid measures, especially in the tech-heavy West (but not only, see also China or Singapore), were in fact pseudo-infosec measures "adapted" to real life Among the advocates we have the aforementioned educated idiot who's not going to bring this up because they don't see the issue to begin with. Then you have those who're pushing it knowing full well what they're doing. The power hungry, the authoritarians, the psychopaths. They may mostly be less tech literate and not good at coding but it doesn't matter because they can get others to built it for them in the name of "security". In principle this isn't new, the pretense of protection has been used as a means of control for a long time. So among the thought leaders we're left with a minority who see the problem because they don't fall in either camp and do not personally profit from such measures, nor find them ethical, but they aren't influential enough to convince the masses. They're outnumbered.

trompetenaccoun 4y ago

The issue is that - and the same is true for the IT scene at large - many of the authors are disconnected from reality. It's like Marxian economics: Works great in theory when you're thinking it up all in your mind, sitting at your desk. Math is like that and coding too. Real humans are not machines though and society is immensely complex, with billions of semi-independent highly intelligent actors in different situations and with disparate goals. They are not going to behave the way the average infosec "expert" thinks they will. >I'm surprised that not that many thoughts have been given to the fact that most of the anti-Covid measures, especially in the tech-heavy West (but not only, see also China or Singapore), were in fact pseudo-infosec measures "adapted" to real life Among the advocates we have the aforementioned educated idiot who's not going to bring this up because they don't see the issue to begin with. Then you have those who're pushing it knowing full well what they're doing. The power hungry, the authoritarians, the psychopaths. They may mostly be less tech literate and not good at coding but it doesn't matter because they can get others to built it for them in the name of "security". In principle this isn't new, the pretense of protection has been used as a means of control for a long time. So among the thought leaders we're left with a minority who see the problem because they don't fall in either camp and do not personally profit from such measures, nor find them ethical, but they aren't influential enough to convince the masses. They're outnumbered.