From: xgl (xli03@emory.edu)
Date: Sun Aug 13 2000 - 23:44:39 MDT
On Sun, 13 Aug 2000, Spike Jones wrote:
> Mike Lorrey et.al, think over this deal for a minute. What if...
> EVERYTHING that anyone does is visible to everyone.
interesting ... perhaps we do not want to make certain things
known because we can not make them known completely. that is, i want to
hide the fact that i did action x because certain people can not fully
understand why and under what circumstances i did it; conversely, if all
my circumstances and intentions were completely understood, i would lose
the motivation to hide anything (presumably, the motivation for hiding
being shame, guilt, etc.).
i think this may well be the direction in which we are ultimately
moving. when we are all powers and become completely rational, perhaps we
will also choose to be completely transparent. however, i doubt that our
human brains were evolved to handle this kind of transparency. shame,
guilt, and indeed deception, are hardwired into the wetware. not only will
much energy be expanded to get society to the point of transparency, but
much energy will also be required to maintain transparency once we reach
it -- it is an uphill battle all the way, an unstable point in the phase
space of possible strategies. ultimately, transparency may cost more than
it can repay us, at least until we can change ourselves.
-x
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