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It's about power inequality. To some extent, knowledge is power. Even more so when you already have leverage (the police for instance, uses its monopoly on ci
by loup-vaillant 15y ago
It's about power inequality. To some extent, knowledge is power. Even more so when you already have leverage (the police for instance, uses its monopoly on civil violence to act on information about criminals —catch them). If you want a just and fair society, you probably don't want too much differences of power. So, you'd redistribute power in a way similar to the way taxes (are supposed to) redistribute wealth.
Information can be used to redistribute power: give some to the powerless, and deny some to the powerful. Open Big-Corps and governments, and keep the private citizens' privacy.
- panacea 15y ago>So, you'd redistribute power in a way similar to the way taxes (are supposed to) redistribute wealth. Is that really what taxes are supposed to be? (Genuine question) I thought they were a levy on businesses and personal income in a sovereign region used to fund the governance, infrastructure and societal needs of that sovereign region?
- loup-vaillant 15y agoOh. Right. I assumed a socialist setting. My country (France) has a welfare system (unemployment, retirement etc…), so part of its taxes are directly redistributed. Note however that direct redistribution isn't the only way. For instance, the infrastructure (like roads and schools) benefits many citizens. You can reasonably equate such benefits with "a bit of wealth". So it is still a form of redistribution of wealth. I don't think wealth redistribution can easily be separated from state.