2023-03-24
As many academic theses tend to do, this draws heavily on European philosophers that few in the UK have heard of, let alone read, but that doesn't undermine the elegant simplicity of the basic idea.
Indeed, we can see that many of these ideas are already under way to varying degrees courtesy of that monster of all things informational - the internet.
You reading this article is a tiny part of the information revolution that does indeed promise to transform our world.
The powers that be (slightly flat-footed as ever) still push their principal messaging (some might think brainwashing) via the traditional mass media of press television and radio - all media whose content can be to large extent centrally controlled by "those in power" who wish to guide our thoughts along their chosen pathways - a bit like the railways, we can go anywhere as long as the authorities build the route.
But then came the age of the motor car and now we can go anywhere we like (more or less) provided only that our chosen motor is sufficiently robust to tackle the public roads involved.
So with the internet - we can go anywhere and find any content (in principle) that we like. We can choose where and when to seek our education, how to market our goods, we can create new businesses that don't depend upon the established high street with its high maintenance bricks and mortar. And we can seek out our "news" from a wide range of alternative sites that need no permissions from anybody. We the people can report our own newsworthy items.
Of course the authorities have been trying to catch up by creating social media conglomerates that they can control, search engines that may effectively demote or hide links of which they disapprove, and "fact checkers" that have become a byword for ludicrously obvious pandering to authority - but the truth will out.
OK, there is a way to go yet before we can establish Nirvana, but we are to all intents and purposes already on the way.
For my own part I suspect that, bearing in mind the centuries of entrenchment that traditional government has enjoyed, it may be appropriate at the right stage to give it a final push via some form of "revolution-lite" that doesn't imply the full chaotic horror of past revolutionary instances, and thus avoids the need for outright deadly conflict in the streets. All techniques will need to be employed in this war of hearts and minds, but lawful peaceful protest (acknowledging the right to appropriate self-defence) must be the way to go.
(12 minutes)
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