[117315] in Cypherpunks
Re: Its the GUI, stupid (people)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (holist)
Tue Aug 31 12:19:53 1999
Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19990831174817.007b3860@mail.elender.hu>
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 17:48:17 +0200
To: cypherpunks@toad.com, edsmith@pop-server.tampabay.rr.com
From: holist <holist@elender.hu>
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.58.19990830180202.00b6a160@pop-server.tampabay.rr.co
m>
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Reply-To: holist <holist@elender.hu>
>I just don't have the serenity to accept that the world is
>full of stupid people; 50% of them work at financial institutions, 45% work
>for government and the rest (I am being generous here) take care of their
>computers.
some of those people are not actually stoopid - through the murky
manipulatory dealings and plain outright headfucking of the babylon most
cypherpunks seem to dislike though some seem to think it's about as good as
it could get and don't mind hiding in the cracks and playing little people
or even carving their own little empire while others would like to see the
world change (as fat as i can make out) they have lost the capacity to
learn. many of the majority of humankind that has achieved that predicament
often through no fault of their own, often deservedly, can be brought back
to the land of the living from thanatoiddom, some by more effort some by
less, some worth it some not - this is a matter of personal preference.
remember the failed experiment in huxley's brave new world? it is not at
all sure that a world populated mostly be talented, aware, intelligent and
strong-willed people (especially one with constrained quarters) would ba a
success-story. the wolfs, after all, need the sheep, and they shall only
opt for stoopid when presented with a choice of clever or stupid.
anyway, public key cryptography doesn't seem to be such a very difficult
notion to get one's head around - just a little bit of interest and an
average IQ and a GOOD EXPLANATION and you got it. i am sure very
unpleasant, daresay unpleasantly stupid people have mastered it and perhaps
the masses would also largely come to understand and appreciate it if it
was presented to them as something with a close causal link to cash -
theirs, I mean - so breaking weak commercial cryptosystems and causing
financial mayhem in a casual, weather-like pattern seems like a good
strategy. the problem with privacy is that it has no value placed upon it -
people actually feel secure knowing the right agents or agencies hold their
intel, and many hope to be on the list of as many commercial entities as
possible, in order to facilitate SHOPPING. if those that wish otherwise
cannot convince those people that it is an important or good thing to have
your private communications secure from the ears of the babylon, important
and good enough to warrant the investment of a medium intellectual effort
(not ever required in the babylon(tm) way of life), then they must convince
them to use crypto for other reasons.
holist
