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I reckon that there must be a lot of writers out there thinking: "Hell, it was meant to be a cautionary tale, not a creepy government manual". Although, I do t

by alan_cx 13y ago

I reckon that there must be a lot of writers out there thinking: "Hell, it was meant to be a cautionary tale, not a creepy government manual". Although, I do think that in essence we are seeing nothing new from governments, just new ways to perform the old tricks, with greater efficiency. Hmmmm, now I wonder if the actual problem is efficiency. We mere humans are pitted against technology we simply have no sporting chance against.

salient 13y ago
Yeah, the last thing we need is another manual for how governments should control the society in the future, as if 1984 wasn't enough. My guess is the people in NSA are already thinking about how to implement a Minority Report-like pre-crime system, that can be shared with all government agencies.
- mikeash 13y ago
  Precrime has been around since at least 2001 when the no-fly list was created.
walshemj 13y ago
Been done "niccolo machiavelli" wrote the book a while back now.
jseliger 13y ago
I reckon that there must be a lot of writers out there thinking: "Hell, it was meant to be a cautionary tale, not a creepy government manual". People have a habit of doing this with lots of narrative art. My favorite example is the movie Wall Street, which was apparently supposed to be a cautionary tale about what happens what the amoral will do anything to make money. Instead, a lot of people saw it and thought, "Gee, it looks like you can make a lot of money in finance—and greed is good." Never mind that a villain makes the speech and that the quote is mangled! It's a movie telling us that it's a good idea to follow our worst instincts, so let's do it!
acdha 13y ago
> Hmmmm, now I wonder if the actual problem is efficiency. We mere humans are pitted against technology we simply have no sporting chance against. Efficiency is exactly the problem: there are many examples of laws which the public would not tolerate with 100% enforcement – the most basic example being things like speeding or jaywalking but it applies to more serious things as well: imagine if the penalties against, say, gay or interracial sex had been enforced against every activist possible because the government was tapping everyone's phones.

by alan_cx 13y ago

salient 13y ago

Yeah, the last thing we need is another manual for how governments should control the society in the future, as if 1984 wasn't enough. My guess is the people in NSA are already thinking about how to implement a Minority Report-like pre-crime system, that can be shared with all government agencies.

mikeash 13y ago
Precrime has been around since at least 2001 when the no-fly list was created.

walshemj 13y ago

Been done "niccolo machiavelli" wrote the book a while back now.

jseliger 13y ago

I reckon that there must be a lot of writers out there thinking: "Hell, it was meant to be a cautionary tale, not a creepy government manual". People have a habit of doing this with lots of narrative art. My favorite example is the movie Wall Street, which was apparently supposed to be a cautionary tale about what happens what the amoral will do anything to make money. Instead, a lot of people saw it and thought, "Gee, it looks like you can make a lot of money in finance—and greed is good." Never mind that a villain makes the speech and that the quote is mangled! It's a movie telling us that it's a good idea to follow our worst instincts, so let's do it!

acdha 13y ago

> Hmmmm, now I wonder if the actual problem is efficiency. We mere humans are pitted against technology we simply have no sporting chance against. Efficiency is exactly the problem: there are many examples of laws which the public would not tolerate with 100% enforcement – the most basic example being things like speeding or jaywalking but it applies to more serious things as well: imagine if the penalties against, say, gay or interracial sex had been enforced against every activist possible because the government was tapping everyone's phones.