We are far from the time where various dystopian terrors were mere science-fiction. They are here, and we can see their effects. No longer blissfully ignorant, we have a choice, and a role to play in shaping the future. Some see the rise of surveillance, censorship, and consolidation of power as a threat to all we hold dear, others may see it as an opportunity to enrich themselves or resolve crises. This may initially seem like a fair exchange: some data and personal choice in return for mild advancements and security. We have seen this deal turn sour over and over, time and time again. It is poised to only get worse as digital intrusions continue to become more invasive.
The decision to maintain control over your data, or to avoid hostile cyberspace may seem entirely inconsequential. But each day, each person refutes or reaffirms their support or withdraw from consolidated power and top-down control. Decisions over details that may seem innocuous, such as where to store data, how you work, and what tools are used; all amount to meaningful changes in cyberspace both for good and ill.
Presently, it seems that the path of least resistance is one fraught with suffering and despair, for ourselves and for others. The best thing about our problems being better understood is that we can identify the sources of problems, and start to find solutions. The hardest part about this burden of knowledge is that we must face our own responsibility for our choices.
It’s all well and good to recognize the danger of an all-encompassing totalitarian cyber-police state. Complete hubris is to consider that it’s just being used incorrectly. After all, if the problems are entirely who’s really in charge, taking on that responsibility is the clear alternative. This means that there are not merely two choices.
Alternatively, one can recognize the dangers of such power and work to withdraw their financial, social, and cognitive support for the technological terror that is being constructed. Ultimately working to ensure that no person or people is able to wield such power against others. Doing this requires a lot of hard work, compassion and creativity to truly make waves across time.
But those are not the only options. One may recognize the opportunity within the corrupt workforce to seize the power for themselves. There are all kinds of rationalizations that will comfortably fit within one’s mind to justify whatever excesses are necessary to secure such power. Telling themselves “If I don’t, worse people will!” and that may sometimes be true to some degree, but it’s always relative.
But why take on all that work yourself? This is something that can easily be outsourced to the well-funded political machine. Instead of doing the hard work of understanding how systems actually work, and then working on ways to decentralize power, you can simply watch a new false savior to wage your battles from the comfort of your favorite glowing rectangle. By shirking your responsibility to engage, connect, and understand, you are empowering those who profit off speaking for you. With no mind to accountability in any form, power will be abused without resistance.
For better or worse, it’s not entirely up to you. This is a decision we all make in some form or another, on all kinds of issues. In terms of systems for mechanized control, the consequences can be quite profound. Therefore your decision is not merely a consequence of your preferences, attitude, or stated goals, but actually involves many more decisions like allies, methods, and choices.
This applies not just to individuals, but institutions like corporations and even governments. If one is quick to blame people for choosing convenience over principles, they must also consider how that multiplies over large organizations. It makes no difference how these systems are organized, be it through government, corporate power, or even on a blockchain the troubles are all the same. It is of utmost concern that the tide of machines being used to manipulate, destroy, and control people is reversed.
The purpose of this project is to encourage each other to take on the task of making total technocratic control impossible. This means, not merely in ‘the right hands’, not only when convenient, not ever. There are a wide array of convincing pretexts one may use to justify censorship, mass surveillance, or worse. It is my position that these methods themselves distort incentives against them being used properly, and ultimately lead to terrifying abuses.
The trouble for those working to re-work the foundations so that future generations may be more free from and over their digital experience, is that it is crucial not to be naive about those with different choices. First one must understand that there are many who are not willing or able to put in the effort to liberate themselves much less others, and forgive them for it. Then also recognize that there are many who will knowingly work to undermine the autonomy of others for their own benefit.
With the understanding that there are not only those who go along to get along, but a wide array of people competing for dominance, it becomes easier to understand why so much is spend on undermining the efforts of those working to improve cyberspace. The many differing factions vying for control over cyberspace are aligned in a single goal: nobody should be able to liberate the public. That is why you’ll often encounter fair-weather allies turn 180 degrees once they’ve built a stronger coalition than their opponents.
There is an urgent need for people to set aside petty differences and be honest to keep malevolent forces at bay. It is well past time to push for genuine accountability in our systems and our governance. This requires people to urgently build connections that are stronger than any political or social drama of today.
The future of a free cyberspace depends on the future of people being free to live without being micro-managed by systems of control. This is why our freedom over technology is inseparably connected with freedom from it in the real world. Instead of conceding cyberspace as a force for intrusion into people’s lives, we can reclaim it for each other.
