The end of Tyranny

Some good points Donissimo.

I am going to take a stronger position in favor of technology as a force of change. The transparency that technology brings will act as a catalyst for change. It does matter who controls the censorship of a nation and who decides what is most easy to talk about. It does not matter as much as one would think.

Technology moves too fast for those in power to accurately control it. They can do a pretty good job but as we see in the case of Iran it is not enough. If there is a minority who want freedom they can send a video or message to a relative on the free side of a firewall. Wikipedia’s entry on the Great Firewall of China lists several tools which may be used to browse blocked sites. It is a game of speed between the government and the masses. The government sets of barriers and the public finds ways to break them. In this case I am going to put money on the larger group. The Chinese government is not just fighting against their own citizens who want freedom they are also battling with the outside world who wants in.

That brings up the point. Why are controlling governments unable to maintain a perfect wall? One that keeps the in what they want in and out what they want out. There are just too many people out there. By increasing the risk of circumventing firewalls or violating technology rules the government can make it less likely that dissent will spread. Yet it is impossible to watch everything. They cannot completely prevent conversations with the outside world and thus cannot fully hide knowledge of freedom. In the Federalist Papers Madison talked about avoiding a “tyranny of the minority.” His solution was to have so many opposing factions that they balanced each other. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are tools that reveal and empower factions. This recent technology will prevent tyranny by encouraging factions.

A worse case scenario (and one that has been used for millennia) is to smuggle out a letter. I believe tyranny will end through the use of technology.

In unrelated blog news, I chose a profile picture. Donissimo, I think you would look good as a cat. Perhaps a large tuxedo cat. Thus today’s challenge is to update your profile.

Father have you seen this?