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Re:The Coming War on General Computation (2011) by asgard1024 on Sunday August 18, 2013 @04:23PM (#6234073)
Why? In most European countries, there are no endless wars on stuff.. Maybe it's Anglo-American culture? But even then, the culture can be changed, and over a generation or so.

So I wouldn't say it's inevitable. The same goes for surveillance. Many people think that due to technology, surveillance is simply inevitable. But 50 years ago, there already was a technology for suppressing free press, which was exercised in totalitarian regimes around the world. Still, democratic countries didn't have censorship of the press.

So there are optimistic precedents - existence of technology doesn't always mean that government is going to misuse it. Though probably not without a fight, anyway. I would end with modification of the famous slogan: "Think optimistic, act pessimistic!" We should assume better future is possible, but act under assumption that it's not going to happen (by itself, that is).

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