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If you haven't yet, you might enjoy the writing of SF author William Gibson.
Re: Yep. We're getting there, unfortunately. Technological tyranny is around the corner. -- Ihavenoname Post Reply Top of thread Forum

Posted by: LateForLunch ®

03/12/2023, 13:24:12

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I think Gibson is prophetic in his view of a world of technological savagery. He's in the same general category of nightmare visionaries as Frank Herbert, Gene Wolfe in expecting that we are through history, doomed to endure repeated cycles of savagery in how the world is ruled. 

I am sadly not among those who are optimistic that technology will serve as a salvation from the cycle of oppression by a plutocratic, nepotistic Ruling Class over the rest of us. Isaac Azimov (and his mythical Three Laws which ostensibly would prevent robots from harming people) was in my view a hopeless romantic in that sense - AI in the hands of Humanity as it has existed since ancient times, will NEVER be anything but a tool for those with means to dominate/oppress adversaries without them - be they nations, factions or individuals. 

William Gibson sees a world where high tech simply becomes another tool in the arsenal of the Elites to lord it over the powerless. He thinks corporations will become (are already evolving into) a competitive life form which will supplant human beings at the top of the food chain. He also thinks that governments will simply be absorbed into that model and they will merge into a single entity which dominates the world and tramples individuals and their rights underfoot without much effective challenge or resistance. 

Yet amid all of this horrible darkness, the Light of the Lord shines like a star which cannot be dimmed or extinguished. I believe that God grants miracles to me every day and if I have one virtue or advantage in this world, it is that I possess the wit to perceive and appreciate them.   






Modified by LateForLunch at Sun, Mar 12, 2023, 13:53:36


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