On Creating a More Accepting Society - a response to @dan 's post on "Radical Transparency"
This is partially a response to the recent post by @dan , Does Freedom Require Radical Transparency or Radical Privacy?
I grew up very observant the world around me. My parents told me that while other kids were on a merry-go-round smiling and happy, I was looking around trying to figure out how the thing worked. As I grew up this curiosity manifested in an interest in people and their interactions rather than in the inner workings of technology.
In junior high school I would ask questions like "How can we participate in such cut-threat competition on the one hand and then talk about 'ending poverty' as if that would ever be possible when our society demands 'losers'?".
I was shushed by my teachers, treated like an idiot by my classmates, and almost institutionalized by my parents when I refused to conform to the norms of the school.
THIS is why I'm hesitant to give up my privacy.
I have friends who have been jailed for trying to protect those who were being forced off their land and others who have been followed around and harassed for voicing their opinions.
When "bad actors" commit "bad acts", we look to punish them instead of help them become better. Who and what is "bad" is also something we may not agree with the masses on as well.
THAT is why I'm hesitant to give up my privacy.
Trust and acceptance will be what allow us to move forward as a species.
You can argue that the transparency would lead to more trust and I can very much appreciate this point of view. But let's not confuse transparency for the solution to all our problems. It is one potential means to reach trust and acceptance, and a risky one at that.
Making that distinction is paramount because by forcing or pressuring people to give up their privacy, you are giving them even more reason to distrust others and welcome mass condemnation against those who wish to keep secrets.
Do we really want to start pointing the finger at anyone who wants to keep certain aspects of their lives private? It's not hard to imagine how oppressive that would end up being.
The best counter argument to everything I've said would be what @dan already said, that our privacy is already gone and we are just trying to make ourselves feel better pretending we have any left. Is there any meaning to me not putting my face on the blockchain? is it effective protection against anything? I don't really know. Perhaps not. But if not, it wouldn't make me feel good about sharing it and many would understandably be angry about it. The "inevitability" of transparency isn't going to help us reach a greater level of trust and acceptance.
On a level of ideals I deeply agree with @dan 's insistence on the value of transparency. But on a more practical level, It really depends on the situation. Not everyone feels safe enough to give up their privacy and it would be coercive to put any pressure on them to do so. If we work towards a world with more empathy, more transparency can come about naturally as a healthy side effect.
We would certainly benefit as a society if people practiced more transparency with their friends and neighbors. But at the same time, we shouldn't feel there is anything wrong with a certain level of privacy for those who choose to keep it. I hope those who want to push for transparency can also understand those of us who are more hesitant and that we can come together to create a solution.
I admit we don't have time to mess around. The technology is developing faster than our values are and I'd like to join @dan and push for transparency, but I believe we, the masses, have already taken the first steps towards transparency against our will, and that those with more power will have to make greater efforts to gain our trust before we should take our next step.
Perhaps a guarantee that legal exchange of cryptocurrency will not be taxed or regulated and that our information will not be used against us?
A bit unrealistic maybe? One can dream. Until that day, perhaps those of us who are brave enough should try it Dan's way, but be careful. I hope I can join you soon. For now, I am a pineapple head.
I totally agree with you, it would be ideal for there to be more transparency but when you start off the journey by force it becomes a whole different struggle. In a perfect world people would be more transparent within their own lives which would lead to the collective having more and then our systems could reflect that.. however our systems are currently reflecting the true nature of the collective which is secrecy, scarcity and "survival".
One of the scariest recycled slogans I've heard a hundred times goes something like, "Well... if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to hide." THAT'S NOT THE POINT PEOPLE! lol anyway, great post!
Exactly! I think you said it better than I did. Privacy is not the same as secrecy although they may look the same on the outside. Its crazy how people still that enforcing good behavior is the same as encouraging it.
I know right? It's about to be 2018 and we still cannot all agree that we're being fundamentally manipulated to believe we're "free" while only actually living in predetermined definitions of freedom can be.. what a paradigm!
Privacy is nothing more than a response to a perceived threat, real or otherwise. I submit that the threat perceived is based on our past experiences with persons, singularly (as in friend) or in aggregate (as in governments). If the source of the threat is people then only by "fixing" people can you obviate the problem.
So how does "transparency" change an individual so that they will not use the advantage they have gained through additional information?
We as a species proudly declare that "Information is power!" That does not bode well for transparency solving the problem.
Your first sentence is really profound and hits a main point. Forcing someone into full exposure is not going to fix people's discomfort and mistrust, it's only going to increase it while denying them any outlet. It seems only to make sense under he pretense that humans are naturally incapable of taking care of themselves, and that we need AI to keep us in check, a sentiment I see becoming more and more popular but very misguided. If transparency began from the top down, I do not think any of us would still feel this way. How to achieve that though...
I think punishment instead of trying to have the 'bad actors' become good people is a very US (and other authoritarian/police state) mindset to have. Many countries such as Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, etc. have prisons built for rehabilitation, whereas the US uses them for profit. It really is crazy how vast the differences are. In Canada you can get prison terms you only serve on weekends, so as not to ruin your life, but instead show you that what you did was wrong, and have you face some sort of consequences. If we harshly punish everyone who does even the smallest of things wrong, then we aren't promoting growth, but rather spiralling them downward, toward becoming a truly bad person. I'd love to see a change in the US prison system, but at this point it doesn't look likely for a few generations.
Disclaimer: I use the US as an example because its a first world country, but has one of the least functional prison systems. I do not hate the country, as I was born and raised there, but there are many problems that must be addressed
That's really great to know. I had no idea things were that drastically different in Canada. I don't know if it's exclusive to the US but as you say, with how "developed" and "advanced" it's supposed to be there, it is regrettable that they imprison such a huge percentage of the population and basically condemn them as "bad people" when only a fraction of the systemic problems are usually brought into light
Society will change (and is changing) but it is impossible to know how. I remember reading about 'free-men on the land'; a bunch of lawyers who realised that there was a loophole in english law which stated that you could renounce your citizenship by writing a letter to the queen and that if she didn't respond within 14 days then you were owed a parcel of land or something, and effectively were exempt from all statutory law outside of common law (killing, stealing and other basic human rights). Obviously it came with a LOT of drawbacks but some of these guys were so good they managed to break uk laws, charge the police force for any time they spent in custody and then SACK the judge when they got to court. Seriously inspiring stuff. But I realised that I was never going to be that guy, you have to be spot on with your knowledge of the law and prepared to cope with massive resistance for the rest of your life and also an insane amount of paperwork to sustain your position. I realised that although I was effectively 'enslaved at birth' (its illegal NOT to register your child) by the 'UK Corporation' and forced to be part of a system that was long ago forced upon my ancestors, I was for the time being, going to accept being part of this system. Since then I lost my concern about being anonymous online for some reason.....perhaps because I no longer feel like my name is really me......or perhaps because it is ALL just so unreal......
Those sound like some fun guys to make friends with.
It is a bit overwhelming. Some things are easy to predict and some are not. The future of blockchain and AI are quite difficult to imagine but what direction people will TRY to push them in, I think, is not very to predict. It's the way so many ideas and philosophies and motives bounce off each other and come together that always surprises us.
If I'm allowed some room to be myself within their corrupt system, I'll play along a bit. I'm not looking to fight with anyone. But I will insist on freedom wherever I can. Our experience is a culmination of the (often misguided?) beliefs and desires of 7 billion something people. No need to fight against it. But we can shift it when we come together.
Well said. Can't say I disagree here at all. Thanks for your commentary on my post and for joining this conversation man! I think it's an important one to have!
Your post brought the whole debate to my attention. Have fun in Korea!
Best. Finishing line. Ever. XD
The rest of the post was pretty awesome too. I was trying to pick out specific bits that I really liked to highlight and comment on but nope. I'd have to thingi the whole thing. So I just resteemed it instead XP
Thanks dude! Your support keeps me going!
Post yang keren, saya suka post anda
@whatamidoing
https://steemit.com/aceh/@tjunaidi/the-field-of-harapan-bangsa-aceh-muddy-stadium-it-s-a-panpel-defense-68237283ae469
Kita pasti akan mendapat manfaat sebagai masyarakat jika orang mempraktikkan lebih banyak transparansi dengan teman dan tetangga mereka. Tapi pada saat yang sama, kita seharusnya tidak merasa ada yang salah dengan tingkat privasi tertentu bagi mereka yang memilih untuk menyimpannya. Saya harap mereka yang ingin mendorong transparansi juga bisa mengerti orang-orang dari kita yang lebih ragu dan kita bisa bersama-sama menciptakan solusi.
Membuat perbedaan itu sangat penting karena dengan memaksa atau menekan orang untuk melepaskan kerahasiaan mereka, Anda memberi mereka lebih banyak alasan untuk tidak mempercayai orang lain dan menerima penghukuman massal terhadap mereka yang ingin menyimpan rahasia.