Freedom of Information
02 Feb 2022Iridium Nova
Thinking about this a lot lately. There's an old concept among those of us in the information security business which goes along the lines of "Information wants to be free." Of course, this is ridiculous. Information doesn't want to be anything, it's information. But the premise behind it is a noble one, and one I subscribe to. I believe humanity would be a lot better off if people had enough information to make informed decisions. Sadly, this is not the case. Too many individuals are in power who are incapable of making informed decisions, and thus find the idea of others being able to do so threatening to their position. And so we have a society that has become quite adept at making sure that information is anything but free, and the civilized bubble stretches the definition of the term "civilized".A person living a thousand years ago may look to the future with hope and optimism, hoping that by now humanity would have "figured it out", overcoming the obstacles that made humanity petty, selfish, and manipulative. They'd be disappointed. For all we've achieved, we're still just as barbaric as we ever were. That person from a thousand years ago would only have to look a thousand years into their own history to see that these things don't really change. Sure, there are always attempts to make things better. Not all humans are terrible creatures. Some of us actually want to improve ourselves, and think that by doing so, we can improve us all. But we differ on how to do that and many of us simply lack the long term vision to see it through. You don't have to look far in the bubble to find a rebellion, an uprising, or a revolution. These people are trying to change things, usually for the better (not always), but in the end, it inevitably only replaces one tyrant with another. It just depends on which side of the line you're looking at it from.
However, I will say that one thing we've gotten better at over time is kicking out the troublemakers. The bubble is dotted with blissful havens, little paradises protected from all the horrible things humanity has to offer. These little islands of solace are full of people living in blissful ignorance of the worst examples of humanity and are protected from that chaos and oblivion by zealous guardians, armed to the teeth and willing to commit atrocities in the name of peace and harmony. Earth, Mars, Capitol, The Founder's World, and dozens more. Places few will ever be able to visit due to the extremely draconian social walls necessary to even get on the waiting list. But a wise man once said, "It is not from their friends, but from their enemies, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls.". The peace and security of our sacred havens is the product of our absolute worst, not our absolute best. There would be no good without evil to balance it. And so there is a kind of beauty in the dregs of our existence, a poetic foundation of murder, debauchery, and ignominy upon which the highest ivory towers of splendor, tranquility, and utopia must be built.
I suppose, when you think about it, the one thing humanity seems to be best at is failing upwards.