On Sun, Sep 18, 2016 at 09:20:15PM -0000, xorcist@sigaint.org wrote:
On Sun, 18 Sep 2016 16:22:44 -0000
Is that supposed to mean : only 'abuses' of power are a problem, not power per se?
"I tried being an anarchist but there are too many rules."
Gold. :)
Crypto won't help there, except as a tool to avoid state oppression. Activism and protests won't help, except as a means to draw attention to minor issues. Even if you manage to effect full-on insurrection, and get rid of alpha-male school bully #1, unless you change the very dynamic of behavior, some other douche will just take his place.
We can hope for the occasional 'benevolent' dictator. They might be rare, but they occasionally get into a seat of power. Linus Torvalds demonstrates that a bit of assinine dictatoriness, when mixed with a dose of willingness to hear others say your an ass and demur to their authority when they're right, can work. RMS might be arse up on "democratic" government, but his dictatory immovability for free libre software was and remains a decent stand for something better in the world. I heard a conspiracy once that Hitler tried to take back the money power, just like JFK a bit later, and got convinced by insiders in his circle to attack Russia in the winter when he should have consolidated.
And that, in a nutshell, is why I don't favor even bothering with most of this stuff. The depths of "the problem" go deep enough that all it does is to become its own form of distraction. Rather, I prefer to proceed this way:
Find a small, soluble problem that fills a need. Propose a solution. Implement it. Repeat.
If everyone does a little, a lot will get done.
+1 Excellent foundations. I used to suggest that to people who were new to the Internet re wikipedia - make it a bucket list to start or improve at least one article every few years. I'm sure a few of us around here have done so...
Or, you deal with it, and shovel shit working for "the Man."
Sure. Just be careful you don't "sell your soul" in the process.
It's just the nature of things.
I'd love to be proven wrong, however.
I remain marginally hopeful you will never be proven wrong on "that which exists, exists." But hey, I'd love to proven wrong on that too :)