You might have heard the quote "privacy is dead - deal with it", I first this heard back in 2004 when I was studying computer science at university.
Now days privacy is becoming less and less of a concern because people don't think it's a case for worry. But are we treading worryingly close to the ominous Big Brother society. Some Orwellian aspects of which are already real.
This raises the question of why do we wish to keep things private in first place?
Are we scared of being morally judged or even worse, persecuted?
Should we care if others are making a profit by selling our own private details?
How do deal with paranoia?
Should anything be private anymore?
From a philosophical standpoint one may argue that the need for secrecy stems from distrust and fear.
An open society is a fearless society and perhaps a more tolerant society?
Being quick to judge someone's character is something we should move away from, we want to move away from such biases and assess people for their worth. Give people the benefit of the doubt, or if we are to have a bias, then at least adopt an optimistic one.
If everyone was truly honest and considerate then they would be no need for privacy but then such a society would require everyone to hold the same faith in others - a sort of moral communism - a state of equilibrium which may easily be disrupted by the most minor glitch in trust or the minority who take advantage of this utopia to fulfil personal goals. If anything we know that true equilibrium is an illusion and is in fact a seeming state of stability can be achieved by a dynamic system on a lower scale. Much like how solid objects which follow deterministic trajectories at our scale are constituted of vibrating atoms at a lower scale which follow stochastic movement.
But in the end is it not in our nature to take the initiative and to lead? Provided we are given the illusion that we have free will and are following our selfish ideals we will be happy. Let people do as they wish but trust that they will do good.
I am not saying we should not have any strong views one way or another, it is important to stand up for some things that we hold dear. We all have our buttons. Ultimately, we need to believe in something to give a sense of purpose (at least I think most people need or are happier with a sense of purpose in their lives). Yes purpose is meaningless but it is useful to think that way to get things done. The only thing one should not tolerate is intolerance. But is the law intolerant? Why is it ok to ridicule some people and not others?
Perhaps this a naive view but I do feel we need to break the cycle of distrust somehow and not let it escalate...
In my view if everything is public then that's fine. If we are going to decide what is to be kept and what is to be made public then this may raise concerns.
It's even more of an ethical concern when some things are deceitfully labelled as private when in fact there are not. Might as well come clean and admit than nothing is fully private.
Disclaimer I have never been the victim of cyber bullying or defacing
A counter point "cyber bullying" for no apparent reason except for the stupidity of group mentality: https://thenib.com/the-internet-s-most-trolled-cartoonist-91a92d9b7585
Now days privacy is becoming less and less of a concern because people don't think it's a case for worry. But are we treading worryingly close to the ominous Big Brother society. Some Orwellian aspects of which are already real.
This raises the question of why do we wish to keep things private in first place?
Are we scared of being morally judged or even worse, persecuted?
Should we care if others are making a profit by selling our own private details?
How do deal with paranoia?
Should anything be private anymore?
From a philosophical standpoint one may argue that the need for secrecy stems from distrust and fear.
An open society is a fearless society and perhaps a more tolerant society?
Being quick to judge someone's character is something we should move away from, we want to move away from such biases and assess people for their worth. Give people the benefit of the doubt, or if we are to have a bias, then at least adopt an optimistic one.
If everyone was truly honest and considerate then they would be no need for privacy but then such a society would require everyone to hold the same faith in others - a sort of moral communism - a state of equilibrium which may easily be disrupted by the most minor glitch in trust or the minority who take advantage of this utopia to fulfil personal goals. If anything we know that true equilibrium is an illusion and is in fact a seeming state of stability can be achieved by a dynamic system on a lower scale. Much like how solid objects which follow deterministic trajectories at our scale are constituted of vibrating atoms at a lower scale which follow stochastic movement.
But in the end is it not in our nature to take the initiative and to lead? Provided we are given the illusion that we have free will and are following our selfish ideals we will be happy. Let people do as they wish but trust that they will do good.
I am not saying we should not have any strong views one way or another, it is important to stand up for some things that we hold dear. We all have our buttons. Ultimately, we need to believe in something to give a sense of purpose (at least I think most people need or are happier with a sense of purpose in their lives). Yes purpose is meaningless but it is useful to think that way to get things done. The only thing one should not tolerate is intolerance. But is the law intolerant? Why is it ok to ridicule some people and not others?
Perhaps this a naive view but I do feel we need to break the cycle of distrust somehow and not let it escalate...
In my view if everything is public then that's fine. If we are going to decide what is to be kept and what is to be made public then this may raise concerns.
It's even more of an ethical concern when some things are deceitfully labelled as private when in fact there are not. Might as well come clean and admit than nothing is fully private.
Disclaimer I have never been the victim of cyber bullying or defacing
A counter point "cyber bullying" for no apparent reason except for the stupidity of group mentality: https://thenib.com/the-internet-s-most-trolled-cartoonist-91a92d9b7585
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