A
new era and a new war. The world right now in the early 21t century
is enduring a time of revolution and change. In a free flowing era of
information technology, where everything seems open has smacked
society with the truth: the rules of the game have changed.
Governments want to seize information, monitor it, control it,
because of the perceived threats it fears. Entire nations have
refined the rules of what espionage is not only is it just targeting
diplomats and government officials, but also the common citizen
especially since accessing the normal lives of everyday citizens is
even easier than it has been before in human history. Many people
already knew or had a strong inkling but when it is slapped in your
face as it was with the NSA and Snowden(if you haven't been checking
the news you should be). It becomes very apparent of what I have said
before that privacy as we know it is dead. When we wish to interact
with people through the cell phone, email, or video within that
moment privacy is dead, but it was also dead when we wrote letters
and telegrams. Spies and others often would intercept these messages,
but it was not as invasive as it is now. Privacy ends when you are
listening without permission on a private conversation, or when you
are secretly watching someone in their own privacy either in person
or by the use of technologies such as hidden cameras. Privacy is an
illusion unless you are truly isolated. I sometimes wonder if people
truly understand how limited freedom actually is. For instance you
can take your own life at any moment, but you can also you get sick
and die I am pretty sure not many people living today desire such a
fate. An earthquake can destroy an entire city, at the moment we
can't control those types of events so there is no choice on our
part. We often place choice with freedom. We can choose to buy
certain products, we can choose which street to turn on, we can
choose what mate we can to reproduce with, and various others
examples of "choice." As I mentioned before choice is not
as "free" as we like to make it. Yes we can pick what novel
to read, or what movie to watch, but we didn't pick our parents,
genetic code, or country of birth. All huge factors of our experience
and quality of life. If you are born poor in India you will live a
very different life, and perhaps an even shorter one compared to a
rich person living in France. Yet a healthy African child can live
longer than a cancer ridden baby in the United Kingdom. It is chance?
Luck? or Destiny? This often goes into deep philosophical debates on
the matter and also the human yearning to make the world a more equal
place so that where you are born should not determine major aspects
of your life.
Let's
go back to privacy and how information technology has changed the
landscape. People who have access to information technology have
access to massive information and create millions of different online
communities where common interest and not geographical location plays
more of a factor. People can build friendships across entire
continents with only the language barrier stopping them. Yet it is
this double edge sword that people are finally realizing. Society
relies on common infrastructure and corporations to provide these
services but they also have access to this information. Information
that can statistically predict what products you will buy what
websites you visit and what communities you are a part of. From the
massive data society is outputting every single probable future that
can be determined. A scary thought indeed thus the question remains
how can a person be free and have choices when algorithms can
determine what choices and places we will search next. It becomes
apparent that we are not as truly free as we would like to believe.
What I am trying to get across is that by merely saying "stop
NSA" and "stop corporations" will not stop the changes
that are occurring today. Someone will naturally yearn for power and
today information is power. The illusion of freedom is so profound
for if everyone is truly free would they not marry whoever they
wished, be rich, good-looking, and powerful? I think many would but
for those of us who understand such dangers we would reject such
notions no matter how tempting it would be. Freedom is an ideal, and
much of it is a human construct. We can choose to encrypt all
personal data, or unplug ourselves from our technology, but now an
entire generation especially those age 35 and under don't think this
is such an option. What this piece is attempting to do is to
challenge what you think of freedom and liberty. Ask yourself what is
freedom to you and how truly free are you? Going through this journey
is important and I think one realizes that freedom is not as absolute
as we would like to believe. There is choice but if choice is limited
than how can that be freedom? The paradox continues.
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