I can say that I've personally done some significant work on a project along those lines. Development has really picked up in the last few years due to a large increase in the size and number of contracts for the research and development into that type of surveillance technology. Of course, there are certainly applications beyond surveillance as well.

Total information awareness is officially dead, but in practice the underlying philosophy is alive and well. What puzzles me is why people seem so quick to raise ethics questions with regards to technologies like this, yet they willingly carry around cell phones which permit their movements to be constantly tracked, if the government so desired. It's not so much the paranoia that gets me as the selective paranoia. The reality is that technology is going to keep moving forward regardless of how much we worry about how it "might" be used. The only genuine solution is to get people in places of authority who can and will see to it that they're used ethically.

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Originally posted by Arbiter The reality is that technology is going to keep moving forward regardless of how much we worry about how it "might" be used.

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The only genuine solution is to get people in places of authority who can and will see to it that they're used ethically.

Unfortunately, that's much easier said than done. In an age of corporate greed and political corruption, ethics have become a thing of the past for the majority of those who seek to achieve political authority.

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Originally posted by Trancer-X Unfortunately, that's much easier said than done. In an age of corporate greed and political corruption, ethics have become a thing of the past for the majority of those who seek to achieve political authority.

Ah, but here's the catcher:

People have never, ever been ethical, nor really cared about ethics.

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Originally posted by DJ Shibby Ah, but here's the catcher: People have never, ever been ethical, nor really cared about ethics.

That's not entirely true, though.

The majority of human civilization hasn't been ethical but there are still pockets of very ethical people which have been and are further becoming extremely marginalized in our industrialized world (example 1, example 2). They're called Jains, Sikh's, Hindu's and Buddhists.

The major difference between them and most of us is that they believe in the law of cause and effect, otherwise known as Karma. Early Christians (particularly the Essenes) believed it in as well but those views ultimately became supplanted by those of the Roman Catholic Church. About a hundred or so years after the turn of the first millenium the Cathars also believed in it as well but they were branded as heretics and were thus eventually wiped out during the Crusades.

Last edited by Trancer-X on Oct-13-2007 at 23:22

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Gah.... Makes me wonder if I should have used my eletronics background towards military applications... Definiately much more exiting than what I'm currently doing

I don't know what it is but I often look at your avatar picture and think of Austin Milbarge (Dan Akroyd) sitting in his sub-basement office at the Pentagon in the movie Spies Like Us

I loved that movie but since I couldn't find that exact scene this one will have to do:

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Originally posted by Trancer-X That's not entirely true, though. The majority of human civilization hasn't been ethical but there are still pockets of very ethical people which have been and are further becoming extremely marginalized in our industrialized world (example 1, example 2). They're called Jains, Sikh's, Hindu's and Buddhists. The major difference between them and most of us is that they believe in the law of cause and effect, otherwise known as Karma. Early Christians (particularly the Essenes) believed it in as well but those views ultimately became supplanted by those of the Roman Catholic Church. About a hundred or so years after the turn of the first millenium the Cathars also believed in it as well but they were branded as heretics and were thus eventually wiped out during the Crusades.

We've suppressed ourselves, and glorified substances like alcohol (escapist drugs that bring out the natural meanness in people) for tens of millennia.

It's no surprise that the world is so fucked up today, and that even those rare people who display a little bit of love and concise emotional understanding of the universe are so appreciated and feared.

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Originally posted by Trancer-X I don't know what it is but I often look at your avatar picture and think of Austin Milbarge (Dan Akroyd) sitting in his sub-basement office at the Pentagon in the movie Spies Like Us I loved that movie but since I couldn't find that exact scene this one will have to do:

Ok, now I'm going have to watch the movie again

___________________
"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."

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Originally posted by Fir3start3r Ok, now I'm going have to watch the movie again

It's definitely one of my favorites of all time.

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Originally posted by Fir3start3r Gah.... Makes me wonder if I should have used my eletronics background towards military applications... Definiately much more exiting than what I'm currently doing

CSIS has a hard on for electrical types, but can you live in Ottawa?

...

You realize that part of that deal also means chearing for the Sens and burning your leafs clothing.

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Originally posted by Trancer-X It's definitely one of my favorites of all time.

lol, one of my favorite movies! I just saw it without comercials a couple of days ago.