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At a guess you believe they're not actually doing something good even though you are, on average, less informed about their mission and activities, less intelli
by LLWM 12y ago
At a guess you believe they're not actually doing something good even though you are, on average, less informed about their mission and activities, less intelligent, and lazier.
- jacquesm 12y ago> At a guess you believe they're not actually doing something good Correct, and the evidence available so far strengthens that belief. > even though you are, on average, less informed about their mission and activities, That's not my fault though, I'd love to be more informed, but hey, secrets! > less intelligent, Quite probably. > and lazier. That's very well possible but I actually highly doubt it. So, why the insults? Did you feel somehow implicated?
- LLWM 12y agoIt's not meant as an insult. I'm just riffing off of your own comment that >On average they'll be very intelligent and working harder than their counterparts in industry for less money.
- Cyther606 12y agoThe Nazis would say the same of the Gestapo to dissenters, albeit with a tinge less arrogance.
- LLWM 12y agoThey would probably also say that smoking is bad for your health.
- Peaker 12y agoLess prone to cognitive biases, though. People all want to feel that they're doing good things, and not evil. They'll rationalize all sorts of things to believe that.
- LLWM 12y agoDo you include yourself in that, or are you not a people?
- Peaker 12y agoI include myself, of course. But I don't work for the NSA, so I don't have any particular need to rationalize their behavior as good.
- LLWM 12y agoWell, obviously, since you don't do so. You rationalize it as bad.
- Peaker 12y agoWe established the cognitive bias to rationalize it as good. What would the cognitive bias to rationalize it as bad be? The reason I believe it is bad is because it violates the spirit of the 4th amendment. It gives incredible power to an organization with no effective oversight. It lacks proper judicial review, and the existing supposed review has been shown to be a farce. It makes everyone using technology less secure. It wastes everyone's resources who have to work against and around the NSA. Everyone knows they are being watched, listened to, tracked everywhere. The big deal, though, is the power concentration and chilling effect of such massive surveillance even the Stasi couldn't dream of.