From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 12:52:07 +0800
To: frissell@panix.com
Subject: Re: [rant] A thought on filters and the V-Chip
Message-ID: <01I0OEXDIYGWA0UO1J@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
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From:	IN%"frissell@panix.com"  "Duncan Frissell" 29-JAN-1996 11:02:03.09

>What parents are attempting to do when they restrain their children's access
to "sex and drugs and rock and roll" (or Republicanism for that matter) is
to mediate their "spiritual" environment to keep them from becoming
hardened.  They know the kids will grow up, they just want them to grow up
in a nice way.
-------------------
	From what I've seen, kids are better off when they don't see the world
through blinders/rose-colored-glasses. For instance, benign neglect is a lot
better for children than overprotectiveness... I wish my parents (as much as I
love them) had applied it to me, I'd have turned out a lot better. (I am also
getting information from multiple psychiatrists and psychologists, including
ones who (unlike me) have raised children).
------------------- 

>Children who listen to Vera Lynn's singing and Cole Porter's songs will end
up quite different from those who favor louder, less vocal music.  Note that
in spite of what liberals might think, fundamentalist christians are less
likely to divorce, less likely to report spousal beatings, less likely to
kill themselves, and more likely to measure high personal satisfaction
                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
levels on standard psychological tests than are, say, readers of The Nation.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-------------------
	Well, yes, someone with a blind conviction that they're going to
someplace nice when they die, confidence that their intolerance is right,
and other such ideas tends to have higher personal satisfaction levels. Also,
this "personal satisfaction" is overrated... as Jack L. Chalker pointed out,
a blade of grass is perfectly happy... even after it's picked.
-------------------

>The cypherpunks relevance of all this is that it should soon be possible to
create completely mediated environments for ourselves and our children.
Through the use of implants and real-time VR processing, it will be possible
to edit our "interface" with the Real World such that unpleasant aspects are
edited out.  We will be able to change the attire, hair, facial expressions,
voice, and even smell of those around us to conform to our own esthetic
desires.  Likewise with our physical surroundings.  Safety may discourage
making a complete transformation in one's surroundings, but one can
certainly soften the edges.
---------------------
	Sasha's enhanced reality or whatever it was called, yes. The cypherpunk
relevance would appear to be more that there should be methods to get true
information to kids (and those under repressive governments, which is about
the same thing in most families) despite attempts to stop it. Anyone for
posting (anonymously) some image viewers and pornographic site locations to one
of the k12 groups?
	-Allen