We are in the future

A few years ago I had an idea for a sci-fi story in which someone invents a mass telepathy device. This was a kind of conceit to demonstrate a theory that if we all knew everyone else’s real opinions about public figures we wouldn’t get swept up in hysteria. Anonymity is key for that, because when political opinions are public and attributable dynamics are introduced such as power politics, second-guessing and herd behaviour like competitive patriotism. How many people go against the grain in public and refuse self-censorship? We remember many as martyrs.

Well guess what? For all that I think Twitter is overrated as a tool of revolution (look at the literacy levels in Egypt, for example), recent events in the Middle East (perhaps the coverage more than the events themselves) made me think Twitter and platforms like it approach that kind of function. Anyone who’s connected can immediately see the anonymous and un(self)censored thoughts of like-minded individuals.

Of course, Twitter’s no good if you don’t have access to it, but the cut connections were worked around and now I see at ahumanright.org that people are trying to get free satellite off the ground. Not sure how it’ll work if they don’t own the satellites though – I think we’ve seen in the US over the past decade what communications companies can agree to under government pressure or a sense of patriotism.

On that, head on over to ahumanright.org and check it out – the man’s doing good work.