Re: <nettime> Pascal Zachary: Rules for the Digital Panopticon (IEEE)

[Nick <nettime@njw.me.uk>]

Quoth morlockelloi@yahoo.com:

> The corollary is that the future belongs to the few, not to the
> masses, because high tech is centralized by nature, as it requires
> understanding, and those capabilities are scarce. The rest are
> fucked ... I mean 'users'.
>
> There are only competing elites.

I basically agree with this, but don't you contradict yourself by
saying earlier that knowledge won't save you? Granted knowledge of
being fucked over by a system is not enough, but actually working to
gain the knowledge to help shape and control the technology could be
liberatory. Maybe people by their nature are mostly uninterested (I
should say 'probably'), in which case you're wholly correct.

I suppose the important distinction is between a Marxist 'awareness'
and the practical knowledge to actually (re)build.

Free software is important as it allows those who are willing and able
to gain the skills to effectively control their environment.





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