[ExI] chilling effects

Anders Sandberg anders at aleph.se
Sun Oct 27 12:06:40 PDT 2013


On 2013-10-27 18:15, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 07:44:07AM +0200, Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
>> So, will you stop visiting other countries as a result of this?
> Will I be stopped, you mean? Maybe. I certainly know people
> who are every time "randomly" selected for special treatment
> when flying, and I know people who've been denied entry.
> It is really quite ridiculous.
>
> I also know people who are afraid for their life so they're
> effectively in exile. We also know a person who's trapped
> in an embassy in London. Nevermind people like Snowden
> and Manning.
It is not 'chilling effects' if you actually are harassed or have 
warrants on your head. What I am getting at is that the vast majority of 
people are not directly affected by many of the threats we have 
discussed, yet if they think they are or could be and as a result change 
their behaviour in a more compliant direction then we have a problem. 
Especially if the thinking is (accidentally) seeded by the people who 
actually are against the compliance.

There is a fine line here, similar to denouncing a tyrannical 
government. You want to make people aware of the abuses, yet not so 
afraid of the abuses that their response is to conform.

There are also links to Hirschman's "Exit, voice, loyalty" analysis: if 
key people respond by exit (moving to friendlier states, disappearing 
into the blacknets) the remaining people will be less able to 
efficiently voice concern and ensure some negotiated resolution - and 
many might cleave to loyalty because that seems to be the only solution.

-- 
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University

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