Comments on: In the World of Total Information Awareness, “The Last Enemy” Is Us; A TV Show Good Enough to Inspire a Political Rant http://www.xconomy.com/national/2008/11/07/in-the-world-of-total-information-awareness-the-last-enemy-is-us-a-tv-show-good-enough-to-inspire-a-political-rant/ Business + Technology in the Exponential Economy Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:14:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Joe S http://www.xconomy.com/national/2008/11/07/in-the-world-of-total-information-awareness-the-last-enemy-is-us-a-tv-show-good-enough-to-inspire-a-political-rant/comment-page-1/#comment-37562 Joe S Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:16:00 +0000 http://www.xconomy.com/?p=6100#comment-37562 Good article on an important topic. The infringments on our privacy erodes our respectability as a nation and ultimately the economy as well. Technologists, business people and scientists are known for focusing more on money or on truths than on what is ethical. Witness this revealing quote by AI researcher Marvin Minsky: “Scientists shouldn't have ethical responsibility for their inventions, they should be able to do what they want. You shouldn't ask them to have the same values as other people." - Marvin Minsky - From issue 2625 of New Scientist magazine, 13 October 2007, page 46 Actually, I agree with that to a certain extent: specialization produces deeper benefits. But someone needs to be watching the ethical side of things, even if the technologists, business people and scientists are not. Don't believe that you can leave it to government officials either. They often have agendas which don't necessarily involve your best interests despite what they may say. I risk stating the obvious because I have met too many professionals who do not seem concerned or aware about privacy issues. If you are not going to do something, pick a group that will. http://www.eff.org is a good one. Good article on an important topic. The infringments on our privacy erodes our respectability as a nation and ultimately the economy as well.

Technologists, business people and scientists are known for focusing more on money or on truths than on what is ethical. Witness this revealing quote by AI researcher Marvin Minsky:
“Scientists shouldn’t have ethical responsibility for their inventions, they should be able to do what they want. You shouldn’t ask them to have the same values as other people.”
- Marvin Minsky
- From issue 2625 of New Scientist magazine, 13 October 2007, page 46

Actually, I agree with that to a certain extent: specialization produces deeper benefits. But someone needs to be watching the ethical side of things, even if the technologists, business people and scientists are not. Don’t believe that you can leave it to government officials either. They often have agendas which don’t necessarily involve your best interests despite what they may say.

I risk stating the obvious because I have met too many professionals who do not seem concerned or aware about privacy issues. If you are not going to do something, pick a group that will. http://www.eff.org is a good one.

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