Any Open Communication System Is Only As Good As The Morality Of The Humans Which Use It
Last week, I must've spent 100 hours reading research papers and documents having to do with the future of cyber war, and protecting all of our digital assets, along with our Internet communication system.
On one hand open communication has been absolutely wonderful for the sharing of information around the world, but on another hand all those freedoms and all that liberation of all that information has also taken its toll due to hackers exploiting the vulnerabilities of our open communication systems.
Okay so let's talk shall we? First, rather than getting into any IT engineering strategies to secure our digital infrastructure, cloud computing facilities, or the Internet itself - instead, I'd like to speak more in philosophical terms and state that; any open communication, free society, or civilization without borders is only as safe as the morality and ethical integrity of these humans which use it.
If we have problematic individuals amongst our population who go out of their way to exploit and destroy the systems, for whatever purpose, then we have to decide individually if it is safe for us to use it.
If we do choose to use it, we have to decide if we are willing to give up our freedom of speech, and tiptoe around so we don't hurt anybody's feelings, even a psychopath or sociopath that might try to hack us down, or if it makes sense to encapsulate ourselves with those that have higher level integrity and cannot be exploited.
Nevertheless, in the end we are still talking about humans, and one has to ask how much trust can we really allow to ensure that our digital communication tools are safe? Whereas, I don't pretend to have all the answers here, I do dare to pose the questions, and I believe it is something that we must discuss.
Indeed, it gets back to that great philosophical conundrum of "how much freedom are you willing to give up for safety," and if you are like me, your answer is well; not much.
Right so, now what? Because, as it stands the Internet seems to be unsafe to use anymore, and no one seems to be able to protect our personal data, and companies, governments, and militaries can't even guarantee the safety of their own anymore.
Okay so, what does this say about the human race? Are humans not ready for the gift of the greatest communication device ever created in that case, at least not yet? You make the call, I'm just asking the questions today.
Please consider all this and think on it.
On one hand open communication has been absolutely wonderful for the sharing of information around the world, but on another hand all those freedoms and all that liberation of all that information has also taken its toll due to hackers exploiting the vulnerabilities of our open communication systems.
Okay so let's talk shall we? First, rather than getting into any IT engineering strategies to secure our digital infrastructure, cloud computing facilities, or the Internet itself - instead, I'd like to speak more in philosophical terms and state that; any open communication, free society, or civilization without borders is only as safe as the morality and ethical integrity of these humans which use it.
If we have problematic individuals amongst our population who go out of their way to exploit and destroy the systems, for whatever purpose, then we have to decide individually if it is safe for us to use it.
If we do choose to use it, we have to decide if we are willing to give up our freedom of speech, and tiptoe around so we don't hurt anybody's feelings, even a psychopath or sociopath that might try to hack us down, or if it makes sense to encapsulate ourselves with those that have higher level integrity and cannot be exploited.
Nevertheless, in the end we are still talking about humans, and one has to ask how much trust can we really allow to ensure that our digital communication tools are safe? Whereas, I don't pretend to have all the answers here, I do dare to pose the questions, and I believe it is something that we must discuss.
Indeed, it gets back to that great philosophical conundrum of "how much freedom are you willing to give up for safety," and if you are like me, your answer is well; not much.
Right so, now what? Because, as it stands the Internet seems to be unsafe to use anymore, and no one seems to be able to protect our personal data, and companies, governments, and militaries can't even guarantee the safety of their own anymore.
Okay so, what does this say about the human race? Are humans not ready for the gift of the greatest communication device ever created in that case, at least not yet? You make the call, I'm just asking the questions today.
Please consider all this and think on it.
