[conspire] (forw) [skeptic] These psychedelic stickers blow AI minds

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Ehud Kaldor (ehud.kaldor at gmail.com):

> I agree with this, theoretically. But the problem is that the people who
> build this technology are not forced to put such means in, and even if they
> were, there will always be exemptions and plain cheats.

I think -- having heard Brin discuss this matter fairly recently during
privacy panels at science fiction conventions -- that he would reply that 
controls over exercise of institutional (especially government) power
are always imperfect but always essential.

Governments will always have units that are deliberately in defiance of
the law.  (One might even think this a necessary and good thing.)  But
they can be kept rarely active and far from all-powerful.

Anyway, I do commend the book.  Forgot to include the direct link.
Chapter 1 is freely readable on the Web.
http://www.davidbrin.com/transparentsociety.html


> In Cryptonomicon, one of the characters is a decendent of Holocaust
> survivors, in a quest to make sure there is never another one. The point he
> makes is that it's impossible to educate people against hating others and
> trying to genocide them. The only way you can prevent that is to make sure
> the potential victims be ready to strike back.
> 
> This point stuck with me very long.

Oh, yes.  This point appears to be amply supported, IMO.  (Though making
sure you have a second passport and ability to flee on short notice also
has its advantages.  Alas, not so easy, these days.

-- 
Cheers,                     « Le doute n'est pas une état bien agréable, mais
Rick Moen                   l'assurance est un état ridicule. »  ("Doubt is not 
rick at linuxmafia.com         a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.')
McQ! (4x80)                                                       -- Voltaire