Data Dictatorships: The Arms Race to Hack Humankind

i was born in a communist country and lived thru the downfall of the USSR. the level of censorship and control that we have now is nothing compared to what the soviets were doing. that's why my impression of the paper is very negative. we're the generation that has the most access to information in history, we can travel like no other human generation travelled in history. and we have so much money and access that obesity is a thing. and yet people still prefer to believe in myths and propaganda. i wonder how will this pan out once we colonise other planets. i imagine the disconnect between planets will be much much greater than the disconnect we now have between countries/cities/etc

Re: Data Dictatorships: The Arms Race to Hack Humankind

#5

Post by borjamoya » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 11:49 AM UTC

kmlx wrote: post #4

i was born in a communist country and lived thru the downfall of the USSR. the level of censorship and control that we have now is nothing compared to what the soviets were doing. that's why my impression of the paper is very negative. we're the generation that has the most access to information in history, we can travel like no other human generation travelled in history. and we have so much money and access that ob…

I feel your pain, but I wouldn't underestimate our current situation. This is much much bigger than we think it is. Forget about fake news, election interferences or Russian propaganda. The reality is much more chaotic, complex and dreadful than that.

Re: Data Dictatorships: The Arms Race to Hack Humankind

#6

Post by elipsey » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 11:57 AM UTC

kmlx wrote: post #4

i was born in a communist country and lived thru the downfall of the USSR. the level of censorship and control that we have now is nothing compared to what the soviets were doing. that's why my impression of the paper is very negative. we're the generation that has the most access to information in history, we can travel like no other human generation travelled in history. and we have so much money and access that ob…

I'm glad you're doing well but please, speak for your self. My apartment building is surrounded by people sleeping in doorways and alleys. They are not fat, and cannot travel the world or outer space.

Re: Data Dictatorships: The Arms Race to Hack Humankind

#7

Post by naringas » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 12:02 PM UTC

> we have the capacities to centralize this data

but we also have the technical capacities to descentralize it (federate it?)

interestingly enough, it is getting more centralized. Is this due to economic incentives?

Re: Data Dictatorships: The Arms Race to Hack Humankind

#8

Post by myth_drannon » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 12:03 PM UTC

kmlx wrote: post #4

i was born in a communist country and lived thru the downfall of the USSR. the level of censorship and control that we have now is nothing compared to what the soviets were doing. that's why my impression of the paper is very negative. we're the generation that has the most access to information in history, we can travel like no other human generation travelled in history. and we have so much money and access that ob…

That's what the Soviet citizens were saying about the citizens of the Western block too. The reality is, it's probably all the same. There are very subtle differences of course, which tend to be exaggerated.

Re: Data Dictatorships: The Arms Race to Hack Humankind

#9

Post by borjamoya » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 12:10 PM UTC

naringas wrote: post #7

> we have the capacities to centralize this data but we also have the technical capacities to descentralize it (federate it?) interestingly enough, it is getting more centralized. Is this due to economic incentives?

Hi, I'm the author of the book.

I believe decentralization in theory could work. But our current situation is so chaotic that there's no clear solution. However, the key here is to understand the full picture.

In the book I argue that there's a big shift going on--not only an economical shift, but also geopolitical and social. And this is going to be a surprise for a lot of people, but this shift is coming from social credit systems and the establishment of a new economic model based on social behavior.

Now, I know this is too complex to explain in a paragraph, but that's why we have books.

Re: Data Dictatorships: The Arms Race to Hack Humankind

#10

Post by naringas » Fri, Nov 01, 2019, 12:11 PM UTC

kmlx wrote: post #4

i was born in a communist country and lived thru the downfall of the USSR. the level of censorship and control that we have now is nothing compared to what the soviets were doing. that's why my impression of the paper is very negative. we're the generation that has the most access to information in history, we can travel like no other human generation travelled in history. and we have so much money and access that ob…

in order to picture what is coming (I think it'll have get worse before there's any real pushback) imagine that "evil soviets" from the USSR had the today's internet at their disposal.