Big article in the Guardian about the Dark Matter that apparently constitutes the majority of data on the Internet. It all made me think how close we are to this strange world as we type - all people at any machine - just a few clicks away from shady and dangerous things so out of the comfort zone of our normal experience. I couldn't help feeling that it was all a bit of conspiracy theory though of course in certain countries being anonymous is not just convenient; it is absolutely necessary to avoid being arrested/tortured/executed for having views differing from the Government in ways far less than mine differ from this Government. The question is if this allows anonymity for dissidents then it also allows it for everyone else, good or bad. Of course this simply reflects the make-up of the real world - debating the constitution of a user-group on the Internet, trying to decide what restrictions to place on them is exactly analogous to the whole population of the world - the question is one of Government. What system of Government is right for the whole world? You cannot decide until culture is homogenised, until we all look roughly the same, until our values merge. Bearing in mind that even if we could work out some sort of psychological/sociological equation to reconcile the views of just two people, I am sure that extending that to three would be impossible, like The Three Body Problem. Imagine trying to reach a compromise that involves 7 billion people.
Oh dear. I like to think of myself as an internationalist (maybe with a small i) but this suggests I'm all for nationalistic boundaries. Maybe I should emphasise Small is Beautiful. We had this book - I still see it in the bookcase when I visit. I can't say I read it but i did look at the pictures. I did read Papanek which I hope absolves me of any responsibility for the unstructured opinions in the first paragraph.
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