From: Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 06:55:56 -0800 (PST)
To: Jane Jefferson <gotagun@liii.com>
Subject: Re: Dr. Vulis' social engineering experiment
Message-ID: <199701211455.GAA06825@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Jane Jefferson wrote:
> Also Sprach Toto:[snip]
> And fiendishly, it is the very chaos and anarchy and random chance
> espoused by proponents of the cypherpunk philosophy that allows these
> people to gain this power, unchecked![snip]
> We have to face the fact that humans are predators, and as long as
> we are, the cycle of this behavior will continue.

Jane is showing signs of independent thought.  Tsk tsk.

> The human race has not evolved to such a point where privacy is not an
> essential thing. If tomorrow everyone turned instantly telepathic and
> we all were capable of knowing each other's thoughts, you'd best believe
> the suicide rate would be beyond belief. Buisnesses would instantly
> fail, countries would instantly be absorbed by other countries, many
> relationships based on love and trust would be destroyed.
> And during that time, the deadliest person alive - the toughest and
> the meanest, and the most effective in the face of all the chaos, would
> not be the person who was capable of preserving their privacy. Rather,
> it would be the one who was capable of surviving in it's complete absence.

Telepathy would do no good.  You can (if you're hooked into someone's
"consciousness") see the general outlines of thought, feel some of the
emotions, etc., but the construction of one's abstract thoughts can't
be interpreted by an observing person or computer.  There are too many
variables and random influences.  Perhaps someday the quantum machines
will make headway there.  In the meantime, we can imitate, but we can't
speak the full language, a la Star Trek IV.

BTW, the suicide rate would not go ballistic, since the suicide rate
as reported today is largely ficticious anyway.  People would switch
to survival mode *very* quickly, which would have the beneficial effect
of taking their minds off of their pre-survival-crisis problems.