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wolf · 11-21-2002, 06:35 PM

Many, many years ago (approx 1983) I attended a lecture that was given by one of the developers of AI (I think it was Weisman or Weisbrod or something like that ... but I'm getting old and my memory is failing ...)

Anyway, instead of a lecture on the latest in AI, we were treated to a two hour treatise on the coming dangers of the information age ... THIS is the stuff he was talking about ...

It's more than scary to see this kind of thing coming to pass ... and i keep worrying that this will go the rest of the way, to a cashless society so NOTHING is off the database.

Now, as it happens, I'm you're basic, law-abiding citizen, however, i do still wonder if some mail order purchases and magazine subscriptions made in my impetuous youth will someday come back to haunt me ... in the form of the BATF, FBI, and AEC showing up at the door to discuss my reading habits.

The problem of the database lies not solely in its existence but in its ability to red flag certain clusters of behavior. Think of the PK Dick story, and recent movie, "Minority Report". Our system of justice is REacvtive, not PROactive.

11-21-2002, 06:35 PM	#27
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Many, many years ago (approx 1983) I attended a lecture that was given by one of the developers of AI (I think it was Weisman or Weisbrod or something like that ... but I'm getting old and my memory is failing ...) Anyway, instead of a lecture on the latest in AI, we were treated to a two hour treatise on the coming dangers of the information age ... THIS is the stuff he was talking about ... It's more than scary to see this kind of thing coming to pass ... and i keep worrying that this will go the rest of the way, to a cashless society so NOTHING is off the database. Now, as it happens, I'm you're basic, law-abiding citizen, however, i do still wonder if some mail order purchases and magazine subscriptions made in my impetuous youth will someday come back to haunt me ... in the form of the BATF, FBI, and AEC showing up at the door to discuss my reading habits. The problem of the database lies not solely in its existence but in its ability to red flag certain clusters of behavior. Think of the PK Dick story, and recent movie, "Minority Report". Our system of justice is REacvtive, not PROactive. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis Last edited by wolf; 11-21-2002 at 06:48 PM.