My biggest takeaway from the Edward Snowden saga was that the only meaningful protection from technological abuse is for something to remain truly impossible. Once something is possible to do, no amount of policy or procedural prohibition will provide adequate protection. When ostensibly private communications are being recorded en masse, nosey employees are going to look.
It's pretty amazing how their traditions hold so much wisdom, even if most of their members don't see the problems of technology directly. Certainly something to be said for a simple and humble life. Pride is starting to look like the deadliest sin.
In the phrase "tree of knowledge of good and evil," 'good and evil' can imply 'everything.'
So eating the fruit is the temptation to know everything, because the fruit imparts the knowledge of everything, which sounds like the philosophy of modern technology. It's definitely related to the temptation to become a god or control God/nature, but eating it takes you further away from life and natural systems.
Also, it's kind of interesting how the purpose of most technology is to create illusions or become a necessity to sustain life.
Great essay Thoedore. I especially like the Clockwork Orange image. https://frederickrsmith.substack.com/p/a-clockwork-orange
💯 I enjoyed your essay… I also have a background in mathematics, engineering and IT… The dystopian future is here
It's disturbing.. I wish science fiction had remained fiction.
My biggest takeaway from the Edward Snowden saga was that the only meaningful protection from technological abuse is for something to remain truly impossible. Once something is possible to do, no amount of policy or procedural prohibition will provide adequate protection. When ostensibly private communications are being recorded en masse, nosey employees are going to look.
It's pretty amazing how their traditions hold so much wisdom, even if most of their members don't see the problems of technology directly. Certainly something to be said for a simple and humble life. Pride is starting to look like the deadliest sin.
In the phrase "tree of knowledge of good and evil," 'good and evil' can imply 'everything.'
So eating the fruit is the temptation to know everything, because the fruit imparts the knowledge of everything, which sounds like the philosophy of modern technology. It's definitely related to the temptation to become a god or control God/nature, but eating it takes you further away from life and natural systems.
Also, it's kind of interesting how the purpose of most technology is to create illusions or become a necessity to sustain life.