Thursday, May 10, 2018

The Government's Control Of Supposedly Dangerous Information

This is certainly a tricky subject. On the one hand you can appreciate that there might really be things that you absolutely do not want bad people to know. Truth be told, of course, there are probably a lot of these none of us really want to be made aware of; much like a unique, near relative of the cliche that presidents have a book of secrets; the really dark secrets of the nation (and that only Nicolas Cage has ever fully read).

It gets more complicated for me because I don't believe that people should be able to own ideas in the first place. They should certainly get credit for coming up with an idea. And they should even get incentives, wherever possible, to continue finding more, if they seem to have an inclination towards that regard. But owning the idea? When so much of what it took to give you the opportunity to put the work of others to good use, involves the very basis of societal cooperation? And then you add the fact that those who are most vociferous about their right to own are usually the same ones who squirm away from any responsibility at all for what the idea might do in actual use; especially long term.

In any case, though, there is also another aspect to this. And that is not being able to have full access to technique, or apparatus, that might, this very moment, offer real solutions to other, very real problems. And I say that now because the broader aspect of this relates to why I have, on several occasions now, called on a maximum national effort to take inventory on just what it is this Nation can do, because you can be sure that the government isn't the only ones keeping things secret.

And lest we forget, you also have to pay dearly for every time you use a very necessary idea. In an effort based economy, however, we would all have joint ownership of such national property; and thus its use would be truly subject both to the will of the majority (respecting the minority), and the rule of law. And we would acquire that ownership the proper way, via a complete employee buyout of the entirety of such property (exempting personal dwellings, and property therein), paying a fair price for it all (because that would also be in our long term interests; especially vis a vie the rest of the economic world).

The bottom line question here, though, is still how do we treat keeping secrets in the first place, and for that I have to say this: I don't think governments have ever been very good at keeping secrets. And then there's the inescapable conclusion that, if one person can figure something out, another can, as well; even if it is only eventually. As such, in my view, the long term difficulties outweigh the short term benefits of keeping dangerous abilities out of the hands of bad people. And a good portion of those difficulties arise because people come to lose trust in their governments when they have to hide things, or actually lie, even if there is a real danger of a thing being exposed.

What do you think?

The U.S. Government’s Secret Inventions

See Also:
[Post Note: What if the information described in the next post below, or how to get at it, were kept secret? And just remember, a significant number of people would see any kind of market sensitive information as dangerous in the wrong hands. Why do you think Facebook has been so closed mouth about how it makes all of its money after all. J.V.]