Technology by Ideology, Part 2
Just for fun I thought I would write the same column as last week to a hypothetical left-wing audience. This should serve to emphasize my argument that technology and ideology are intertwined. Plus, it'll provide a contrast between the characteristics of right-leaning and left-leaning technologies. Just be aware you might have to hold your nose for this.
As progressives and other left-leaning individuals we recognize that in the absence of a god, ethics and morality are derived from consensus. Sometimes the right calls that "mob rule" but on the left we understand that good governance comes from the collective will of anointed experts. Sure, we let the people have their little say from time-to-time. We provide a narrow selection of carefully chosen frontmen and women for which they can vote, but ultimately, we provide an administrative state consisting of millions of experts who are rightly insulated from elections. This is to prevent a populist, should one happen to bypass our safeguards, from implementing the will of the people. We simply cannot risk our democracy to accommodate those that don't know what's good for them.
With that being said, a strong central government is required to provide us with a platform for the management of the people. The tax code offers us an opportunity to engage in social engineering in order to achieve our desired outcomes. A little incentive here in the form of tax breaks, a little disincentive there in the form of tax penalties, and we are able to "nudge" the people in the direction we want them to go. In addition, the education system can implant ideas we want them to have. Our control of the nation's university faculty, especially the education departments, enables us to produce an army of teachers who will transfer to the nation's children the ideas we want them to believe. This isn't necessarily taking Americans' decision-making ability away from them, it's simply helping them do what's in their best interests.
As a result, we favor proprietary software that implements the intent of our technology companies and enables them (us) to exercise control over the user. Most users, like most Americans, make decisions we wish they wouldn't make. Therefore, we need to exert a measure of influence over their behavior in order to achieve the outcomes we desire (and by extension, they desire). When put to a direct vote, Americans typically reject open borders, gay marriage, climate change, and affirmative action. In order to implement these ideas anyway, we've needed to work around the voters. Similarly, in order to achieve the objectives of our technology companies, we need non-free software in order to guide the user to make the correct decisions. After all, we live in a democracy.
Speaking of democracy, we have an obligation to take care of our citizens from cradle to grave. From free prenatal care to free childcare to free pre-K to free K-12 to free college to free healthcare to free pensions to free end-of-life care, it is crucial to keep the voters dependent on us in order to maintain a modern society. One of our most important achievements during the 20th century was the creation of the "social contract," which for all intents and purposes, conscripts Americans' income for redistribution as we see fit. In practice, the income tax and the welfare state provide us with the leverage we need to care for our citizens and keep them in line. We now have a large segment of society which is dependent on us, and as history has shown they will reliably support us simply to continue the stream of welfare benefits heading their way. In addition, we have a complimentary but much wealthier group of supporters which will vote for us in order to keep that first segment from showing up at their mansions with torches and pitchforks. It's a nice balance, really.
As such we favor hosted services running nonfree software which allows our technology partners to have free reign to make social changes that are in everyone's best interests. If we need to correct false narratives or stop the spread of unapproved ideas, we can leverage our partners to do so. We also support efforts to increase user engagement, which some call "addiction," which will keep people on the platform longer in order to receive the narratives we want them to receive. Finally, we support the use of venture capital and advertising to keep technology platforms free at the point of use. As we've seen from Costco's use of a marginal membership fee, we could potentially lose millions of users if we charged at the door. And those users wouldn't benefit from our virtuousness. Or worse, they might go on to think for themselves.
Finally, our democracy hinges on the elevation of correct ideas and the suppression of false narratives (PDF warning). Correct ideas are proposed by our anointed experts, certified and defended by our anointed journalists, and amplified by our partners in the technology industry. False narratives begin with ideas which originate outside this system and must not be allowed to propagate. This is important to maintain social cohesion and national unity.
Therefore, we recommend technology platforms that monitor user behavior using robust surveillance systems. Encryption may be used but only in a form which allows us to bypass it, whether through a master key or key-escrow system or similar. That way AI and machine learning can be brought to bear on data flows across our platforms and can, with the proper training, promote approved ideas and censor disinformation. Fortunately, that includes just about all major social media sites, smartphones, messaging apps, and internet-of-things devices on the market today.
Right now, we have a great foundation in place. In the near term, new legislation can bring hosted services, proprietary software, and ubiquitous surveillance into a common toolbox and enable us to achieve great things as a society. Imagine a world in which equality of outcome is not just a laudable slogan but a reality for every American. In the long term, artificial intelligence will build upon this foundation in order to automate elections and remove disruptive citizens.
The post-COVID world has presented us with a unique opportunity to build back better with a revolutionary and progressive agenda which some say resembles the failed Marxist experiments of the past century. However, that wasn't real Marxism. Any evidence to support such a claim will be labeled as "disinformation." Anyway, where was I. Oh yes. From our values of supervision, dependency, central planning, and scrutiny will come the monitored, centralized, and proprietary technologies that we will use to build the future.
Thumbnail by Columbia TriStar Marketing Group. As this image is intended for not-for-profit commentary purposes, I believe it falls within the realm of fair use.
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