^CategoryTechnocracy

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
September 7, 2023

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
Assisted Suicide, bioethics, Doctors, Freedom, healthcare, Medicine, Technocracy, Wesley J. Smith}

The Technocracy Continues to Grow

_{We live in a time where individual freedom is under material threat from an emerging technocracy} _{Wesley J. Smith

September 7, 2023

6

Technocracy}

Readers may recall two cases from the UK: Alfie Evans and Charlie Gard, infants with catastrophic illnesses whom the courts did not allow to be taken out of their hospitals — as desired by their parents — to receive treatment elsewhere. Now, also in the UK, a conscious and capable 19-year-old patient, referred to in legal documents as “ST,” with an apparent terminal disease has been told by a court that she can’t decide to continue life-extending treatment after the hospital sued to be able to move her to palliative care against her will. From the legal ruling involving the National Health Service Trust (emphasis added): The Trust’s case is that ST is “actively dying”. It became clear during the course of the oral evidence I heard Read More ›

Anonymous crowd of people walking street wearing masks during Covid 19 pandemic in New York City

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 3, 2023

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
2020, COSM, COVID-19, Niall Ferguson, Pandemic, Social decline, Technocracy, The West}

Doom and the Politics of Catastrophe

_{Setting the catastrophe of the 2020 pandemic in perspective} _{News

August 3, 2023

1

Technocracy}

What happened in 2020? Why was there such confusion, contradicting information about Covid-19, and poor bureaucratic oversight of the pandemic? Setting the catastrophe of 2020 in historical perspective, renowned British historian Niall Ferguson explains why we are getting worse, not better, at handling disasters. The lessons of history that this country — indeed the West as a whole — should be closely heeded if we want to handle the next crisis better and avoid the ultimate doom of irreversible decline. We’ve been sharing a number of lectures from past COSM conferences. This video is just one of many you can find at the Bradley Center’s YouTube page. There you’ll find several lectures, interviews, and panels dealing with issues that range from Read More ›

Post-Human Dystopia - A Cybernetic Future in Neon

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
June 24, 2023

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
Brandon Rickabaugh, censorship, Columbia University, COVID-19 (misinformation issue), Facebook, George Orwell, George Orwell on total surveillance, Jacques Ellul, Mind Matters (mission), Robert J. Marks, Robert K. Merton, Technology, The Social Dilemma (movie), The Technological Society (book), totalitarianism, Twitter, Walter Bradley}

Jacques Ellul and the Technocratic Society

_{Unhappy is the society dominated by "technique"} _{Peter Biles

June 24, 2023

4

Technocracy}

Jacques Ellul was a twentieth-century writer and philosopher who left us an abundance of riches on the impact of technology on our modern world, or what he called the “technological society.” I’ve been working through his book The Technological Society for a while now. It’s dense, slow reading, but is jam packed with insights. Aside from merely the proliferation and growth of technology in the West over the last century, Ellul notes that we’ve become a culture obsessed with “technique,” performing tasks for efficiency instead of intrinsic purpose, and training ourselves to relate to other people in like manner. What matters under technique’s domination is not morals or human dignity but about outcome and “results,” being bigger, better, and faster. Read More ›

COVID-19 coronavirus and crisis concept, US president Franklin`s eyes and face mask on 100 dollar money bill. Corona virus affects global stock market.

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
June 20, 2023

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
Biden, CDC, COVID-19, Fauci, Gas Stoves, Nature, Pandemic, Paris Accords, public health, Technocracy, Technology, W.H.O, WHO COVID-19 investigation in China}

Is the Public Health Technocracy Faltering?

_{Technocrats don’t rely on mandates but eagerly impose policies that render society less free} _{Wesley J. Smith

June 20, 2023

4

Technocracy}

In February, I warned about a treaty being negotiated to empower the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic, which would trigger governments assuming mandatory emergency powers. From, “Transforming WHO into a Public-Health Technocracy“: The WHO director-general would be granted the power to “declare pandemics,” at which point emergency provisions of the treaty to impose public-health policies would go into effect. . . . The WHO would be able to dictate policies if international consensus were not obtained by a vote of the two presidents and four vice presidents of the WHO CA+. . . The International Court of Justice would also be granted decisive power. . . . It would centralize pandemic planning and response into itself. . . Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 28, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Technocracy

Tagged
C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Materialism, Michael Aeschliman, Scientism, virtue}

Michael Aeschliman on C.S. Lewis and Scientism

_{Aeschliman observes how technological progress and scientific mastery, when it isn't wedded with virtue and moral knowledge, wreaks havoc} _{Peter Biles

March 28, 2023

5

Arts & Culture, Technocracy}

Michael D. Aeschliman first wrote The Restoration of Man: C.S. Lewis and the Continuing Case Against Scientism in 1983. It was praised as a remarkable achievement upon its arrival by eminent writers and thinkers like Russell Kirk, Malcolm Muggeridge, and George Gilder. Discovery Institute Press published an expanded and updated edition of the book in 2019, and a recent podcast episode featuring Aeschliman piqued my own interest in the book. Aeschliman writes on the advent of “scientism,” the belief that science is the only viable path to knowledge and should therefore be esteemed above all other disciplines. Such a view leads to the reckless moral relativism and “will to power” that arguably brought about the bloodbaths of the twentieth century, Read More ›

A man on the background of a gloomy city

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
December 29, 2022

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
Christian, Control, COVID-19, CS Lewis, Eastern Orthodox, First Things, government, Icon, Paul Kingsnorth, Scientism, Technology, totalitarianism}

Science, Safety, & Slavery to the State

_{Revisiting a 2022 conversation between Paul Kingsnorth and Jonathan Pageau} _{Peter Biles

December 29, 2022

4

Technocracy}

Paul Kingsnorth is a writer and novelist living in Ireland who operates a Substack account called the Abbey of Misrule. For years his work has focused on the many forms of civilizational control that human beings seek to exert over their fellow man and how such power, whether it be technological, governmental, or corporate, diminishes our humanity and freedom. He is also a newly converted Christian, and he wrote his conversion story for First Things last summer, which you can find here. In April, Kingsnorth joined Jonathan Pageau on his YouTube channel. Pageau is an Eastern Orthodox iconographer from Canada. In their discussion, Kingsnorth uses the word “Machine” to describe the massive technological control that’s now not so subtly creeping up on many western countries. From Read More ›

Hand holding smart phone with abstract glowing squares

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
December 1, 2022

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
1984, Cell phone, COVID-19, Data Mining, Debra Saunders, government-policy, Technocracy}

The Government Can Bug Your Phone

_{Discovery Institute Fellow Debra Saunders raises the alarm of present-day technocratic measures} _{Peter Biles

December 1, 2022

2

Technocracy}

Debra J. Saunders, a fellow at Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership, wrote an article for The Daily Caller this week on the mounting problem of privacy regarding cell phone usage. Saunders expresses concern about the ease in which government and Big Tech companies can mine data and track people through their cell phones. Saunders thinks the COVID pandemic sped up the process of privacy violations. She recalls a 2021 incident in which the state of Massachusetts purportedly worked with Google to download a COVID tracker app without users’ notice or consent. Now, the state is facing a lawsuit. Saunders reports, The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a class-action lawsuit this month against the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to end Read More ›

Close up of a man hand is using a futuristic latest innovative technology glass tablet with augmented reality holograms as a remote control of smart home appliances at home or office.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
September 20, 2022

Categorized
Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Alexa, Amazon and surveillance, Angela Moscaritolo, Google's smart devices, iRobot, Paul Haskell-Dowland, Privacy vs. convenience, Roomba, Smart devices and corporate surveillance, surveillance capitalism}

Never Mind Alexa; Is Even Roomba Spying on Us?

_{No, that’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s easy and profitable today to embed monitoring apps — and people don’t seem to mind} _{News

September 20, 2022

5

Surveillance, Technocracy}

In PC Mag’s “Best Home Smart Devices for 2022,” tech reviewer Angela Moscaritolo tells us “My house is working toward a PhD. Little by little, it’s getting smarter.” No. That house is not getting any smarter. But smart people — whom no one asked in — are getting to know way more about what goes on in it. A couple of data management scientists recently offered some thoughts about that: Back in 2007, it would have been hard to imagine the revolution of useful apps and services that smartphones ushered in. But they came with a cost in terms of intrusiveness and loss of privacy. Smart devices collect a wide range of data about their users. Smart security cameras and Read More ›

Automotive Engineer Use Virtual Reality Headset for Virtual Electric Car 3D Model Design Analysis and Improvement. 3D Graphics Visualization Shows Fully Developed Vehicle Prototype Analysed Optimized

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 4, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Censorship, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy, Virtual Reality

Tagged
Adam Goad, Austin Egbert, Big Tech, Big Tech influence, Bitcoin (currency), Blockchain, censorship, Centralization, cloud, cryptocurrencies, decentralization, Edge computing, Ethereum, Facebook, Featured, Jack Dorsey on Web3, metaverse, Metaverse (living in metaverse), Robert J. Marks, Twitter, Virtual Reality, Web3}

Why Don’t Some Tech Moguls Like Web3, the New Internet?

_{Web3 is a decentralized, less controlled version of the internet, as George Gilder predicted in Life After Google} _{News

August 4, 2022

10

Artificial Intelligence, Censorship, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy, Virtual Reality}

In this week’s podcast, “Web3: The next generation of the internet” (August 4, 2022), Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviews graduate student Adam Goad and Dr. Austin Egbert, both in computer engineering at Baylor University, on the coming decentralization of the internet. With developments like the ones they discuss looming, Big Tech may be seeing a waistline trim. This is the Part I of the first of the three discussions. https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Mind-Matters-198-Adam-Goad-Austin-Egbert.mp3 A partial transcript and Additional Resources follow. Dr. Marks began by discussing all the services he gets from Google, confessing that he has not needed to go to a library in over two decades. But… Robert J. Marks: Now, is Google just being nice in giving me Read More ›

Double exposure of business woman and Big Data concept. Digital neural network.Introduction of artificial intelligence. Cyberspace of future.Science and innovation of technology.city background.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 21, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Data Privacy, Politics, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Big Tech and neo-feudalism, Big Tech decline in popularity, Brave search engine, Coming of Neo-Feudalism (book 2020), DuckDuckGo sidelined by Google, Google and don't be evil slogan, Google attempts to shape thinking, Google censorship, Google's global dominance, Joel Kotkin, Neo-feudalism, Silicon Valley disparities}

Google’s Most Ambitious Project to Date: Reshaping Your Thinking

_{Controlling so much communication — and fired up by ideology — it’s in a better position for that than many suppose} _{News

July 21, 2022

7

Censorship, Data Privacy, Politics, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy}

In a column yesterday at Spiked, urban studies specialist Joel Kotkin, author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class (2020), provided depressing evidence that the power of Big Tech is beginning to genuinely resemble the power medieval lords had over their serfs. It’s not just an office joke any more. Google, he recounts, was part of an anti-authoritarian high tech culture when it went public in 2004. Its search engine technology, and others, were seen as empowering the little guy. In 2018, for unclear reasons, Google dropped the famous “Don’t be evil” slogan. Since then, in Kotkin’s view, it is “increasingly becoming a force not for good, but for, well, evil.” He musters an impressive Read More ›

New strong password and weak ones near keyboard.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 21, 2022

Categorized
Computer Security, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Apple and ending passwords, Biometrics (replacing passwords), China biometrics, David Kruger on replacing passwords, Facial recognition replacing passwords, Fingerprints replacing passwords, Passkeys vs. passwords, Passwords (elimination), Retina scanning}

Forget Your Password? Apple Wants To End Them for Good But…

_{Do you want to give Apple your face- and fingerprints, maybe other “biometrics” down the road…?} _{News

June 21, 2022

5

Computer Security, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy}

We’ve all heard the tales of woe about people whose password was “password” or “123456” or “BertJones”. Currently, Big Tech, tired of the flak and the fallout, is trying to end passwords. Here’s Apple’s approach: When Apple’s latest software updates for iPhones, iPads and Macs arrive this fall, they will include a way for users to log into various online accounts without entering passwords or relying on password managers to save and fill in credentials. The technology generates unique passkeys for each app or browser-based service in the place of characters. Those passkeys, a new type of identity authentication, prompt a scan of your face or fingerprints to log you in… Passkeys, like those from Apple, are made up of Read More ›

Chinese hacker. Laptop with binary computer code and china flag on the screen. Internet and network security.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 31, 2022

Categorized
Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Citizen Lab on transnational oppression, Facebook on transnational oppression, FBI on transnational oppression, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Freedom House (on transnational oppression), Internet and transnational oppression, People's Republic of China (and transnational oppression), Transnational oppression, Uyghurs (and transnational oppression)}

The Internet Is Freedom? Not for Exiled Democracy Activists

_{Modern electronic communications ensure that persecution need not stop at the border, as many expat Chinese are discovering} _{News

May 31, 2022

8

Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy}

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a U.S. citizen and four Chinese intelligence officers “had been charged with spying on “prominent dissidents, human rights leaders and pro-democracy activists” in the United States on behalf of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Americans and others who live in open societies may not be aware of this transnational oppression problem if they do not have contacts who have escaped totalitarian regimes. Briefly, today, the persecution doesn’t stop at the border. Modern electronic communications are part of the reason why not: “If anyone doubts how serious the Chinese government is about silencing its critics, this case should eliminate any uncertainty,” said Acting Executive Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
May 19, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Technocracy

Tagged
Erik Larson, Featured, Gaming AI (book), George Gilder (on AI), Myth of Artificial Intelligence (book), Singularity, WALL-E (film)}

Will AI Overtake Humans? Only If We Let It

_{We are getting too cozy with dependence on high tech to ease the burden of thinking for ourselves} _{Andrew McDiarmid

May 19, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Technocracy}

This story originally appeared at Newsmax. (May 19, 2022) As I reported last year, there’s been a lot of talk about a Singularity in the last decade. That’s the point when machine intelligence (AI) exceeds human intelligence and begins to rule humanity and eventually the entire universe. It’s a scary proposition to be sure, but we can rest easy on that front, because it’s not going to happen. The futurists assume there’s a bridge between narrow applications of AI and the general intelligence humans possess. But no such bridge exists. As Erik J. Larson explains in his book The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, we’re not even on the right road to such a bridge. You can also take George Gilder’s word for it. One Read More ›

Positive girl resting on the couch with robot

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
May 11, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Technocracy

Tagged
Black box algorithms (in decision-making), Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Computer-based decision-making, Gary Smith (on GPT-3), GPT-3 (Gary Smith), LaMDA, Large Language Models (LLMs), Smith test, Turing Test}

Turing Tests Are Terribly Misleading

_{Black box algorithms are now being trusted to approve loans, price insurance, screen job applicants, trade stocks, determine prison sentences, and much more. Is that wise?} _{Gary Smith

May 11, 2022

8

Artificial Intelligence, Technocracy}

In 1950 Alan Turing proposed that the question, “Can machines think?,” be replaced by a test of how well a computer plays the “imitation game.” A man and woman go into separate rooms and respond with typewritten answers to questions that are intended to identify the players, each of whom is trying to persuade the interrogators that they are the other person. Turing proposed that a computer take the part of one of the players and the experiment be deemed a success if the interrogators are no more likely to make a correct identification. There are other versions of the game, some of which were suggested by Turing. The standard Turing test today involves a human and a computer and Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 3, 2022

Categorized
Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
1984 (as prophetic), Classroom Technologies, Facecrime, facial recognition technology, Intel, Kate Kaye, Shoshana Zuboff}

Facial Recognition Technology Can Now Detect “Facecrime”

_{Some claim it will help teachers interact with students better} _{News

May 3, 2022

4

Surveillance, Technocracy}

At one time, this was science fiction: In George Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984, citizens are monitored 24/7 through the use of “telescreens” that are stationed in every home and throughout every workplace, monitoring for facecrime. It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offense. 1984. Read More ›

Creative digital city background. Smart city, technology and innovation concept. Double exposure.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 31, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Technocracy

Tagged
Bari Weiss, David Sacks (on emerging social credit system), Debanking, Debuying, Depublishing, Programmable digital currency (and social control), Social credit system (United States)}

PayPal Pioneer: The Ways Big Tech Is Strangling Our Freedoms

_{The conveniences offered come at a price: We can be much more easily surveilled and controlled. And yes, they ARE doing it} _{News

March 31, 2022

5

Business and Finance, Censorship, Technocracy}

In a continuing discussion with Bari Weiss, Paypal pioneer David Sacks warns hearers: BW: You have been making the case better than anyone else that, despite the fact that we live in a liberal democracy with a Bill of Rights and a Constitution and a First Amendment, whether most Americans are aware of it or not we also are living inside a soft version of a social credit system. So for the people who hear that and think: ‘That’s ridiculous. This isn’t China.’ I want you to make the case. DS: Let’s start by defining what a social credit system is. A social credit system is a system that pretends to give you civil liberties and freedom. It doesn’t overtly Read More ›

Chinese flag and big brother data surveillance

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
November 26, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
China (vs the United States), Chinese characteristics (political concept), Chinese Communist Party (commitment to Marxism), Communism, COSM, George Gilder (COSM 2021), Jenny Fei Fang, Marxism (Chinese Communist Party), Michael Schuman (on China's surveillance state), Miles Maochun Yu (on China's goals), Newt Gingrich (COSM 2021), United States (vs. China)}

On What Terms Is Co-Operation Between the US and China Possible?

_{China analyst Miles Maochun Yu thinks that China’s new goal is to become the new global power first, then implement its ideology} _{News

November 26, 2021

9

Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy}

A panel at COSM 2021 aired a disagreement between philosopher of technology George Gilder and political analyst Newt Gingrich. Gingrich argued that China is the greatest threat to global freedom while Gilder felt that claims about forced labor, for example, are overstated and that we must co-operate with China for technological advances. In the background is China’s 24/7 surveillance of the entire population, the door-to-door identification of and crackdown on religious believers, as well as on civil rights activists. The situation in China has changed a great deal over the past half decade which marked the Uyghur internment camps and the premature takeover of Hong Kong. As Michael Schuman puts it: China today is in the grip of the most Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 17, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics, Ethics, Technocracy

Tagged
China (U.S. companies' responses), China (U.S. trade with China), COSM 2021, Deng Xiaoping, Featured, George Gilder (on China), Jack Ma, Newt Gingrich (on China), Taiwan (status), Trump vs. China (book), Twiwan (Gilder's view), Xi JinPing (and Deng Xiaoping), Xi JinPing (Gingrich's view), XinJiang (Gilder's view), Xinjiang (internment)}

Gingrich at COSM: China Is the Greatest Threat to Global Freedom

_{Newt Gingrich fears America will lose to China. George Gilder argues that thinking that way is self-defeating and stupid} _{Heather Zeiger

November 17, 2021

8

Business and Finance, Economics, Ethics, Technocracy}

At COSM 2021, philosopher of technology George Gilder and political analyst Newt Gingrich sparred over U.S.–China relations. Gilder and Gingrich, a former U.S. Congressman, exemplify the two predominant views on China today. Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and author Gingrich says the U.S. should decouple from China, while economist and author Gilder sees collaboration with China as our best — and only — option. Gingrich: Optimism about a more open China is waning In his opening remarks, Gingrich recalled that he was once an optimist that Chinese reformist leader Deng Xiaoping’s opening up strategy would usher in a more democratic China because Communism was incompatible with a free market economy. But, Gingrich, who has been a history Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
October 30, 2021

Categorized
Science, Technocracy

Tagged
Earth (as fine-tuned for life), Mars, Mars (water), Sabine Hossenfelder, Terraforming, Terraforming Mars}

Theoretical Physicist: Colonizing Mars Is a Ridiculous Idea

_{Making Mars habitable (terraforming) has been kicking around engineering circles for decades. What are the chances, given Moore’s Law-level increases in technology?} _{News

October 30, 2021

5

Science, Technocracy}

And so what does a theoretical physicist know about it, you ask? Well, when it’s Sabine Hossenfelder, she is alwaysworth listening to: The biggest problem is not that Mars is “minus 60 degrees Celsius or minus 80 Fahrenheit,” she explains, but that it has no magnetic field so the atmosphere was blown away by the solar winds. So to form Mars into a second Earth, we would first need to give it a magnetic field. How easy is that?: In a paper that was just published in April in the International Journal of Astrobiology, two physicists explain that all you have to do put a superconducting wire around Mars, simple enough, isn’t it? The circle would have to have a Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
October 18, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Technocracy

Tagged
Centralization (of AI industry), Decentralization (of AI industry), Featured, George Gilder, Life after Google (book), Peter Thiel, Peter Thiel (First Contrarian Idea), Peter Thiel (on coming decentralization)}

Peter Thiel: Big Tech, As It Operates Today, Is Communist

_{Visions of the computer age have swung from big centralization in 1969 through big decentralization in 1999. Neither got it quite right, Thiel says} _{News

October 18, 2021

8

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Technocracy}

Philosopher of technology George Gilder revisits world class tech venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s live streamed talk at COSM 2019 in “ The failures and self-hatred of Big Tech.” Thiel, the author of Zero to One (2014) will attend COSM 2021 (November 10–12) in person this time, along with Gilder. Note: You can get the best rate if you register before October 31. The focus of the 2021 meet will be the paradoxes of the new world of technology. As we will see, Thiel is an expert at defining that world. This is the first of a four-part series on his view of the future, starting with his First Contrarian Idea, that the way Big Tech operates today is communist and Read More ›