Who Controls? Why?

"Just as we have publicly gained ways of disclosing private misdeeds from outside government, a dark pall may be descending on its latest social-technology mechanism. Is that our interest? Stifle cutting-edge transparency because it is inconvenient for some that otherwise have good intentions (or at least imagine they do)?

Co-opt?

"It is my considered opinion that we as a people could learn much about the ego-driven manipulation that currently corrupts our organizations, whether they are professional associations, corporations, 'nonprofit' religious institutions, NGOs, democracies etc. Spontaneous transparency often serves such purpose well. Admittedly, there may well be cases when it has precisely the opposite effect. I suspect they are rare.

"As a species, it is our instinct to seek out asymmetric advantage through constrained paradigms. It is the way we have insured our survival in the competition for limited resources. The hazard is the collateral damage caused by first their popularity then becoming a vehicle for hoarding of unchecked power."

It seemed reasonable that this message surfaced because of the effort to expose the covert operation. Not yet knowing their intent and only having hints as to their methods after directing the best of their detection capability at the problem was disconcerting.

Not helpful that they did not yet have an indication as to whether the message was synthesized or composed by a single individual. Circumstantial evidence would lead one to believe ... what?

© 2010 Buzz Hill