-Caveat Lector-
A friend of mine commented about this "advance":
>>One more foundation stone for both dreams of omnipotent healers and
Orwellian nightmares.
>From the hairy thunderer and Santa Claus to Lamont Cranston and Big
Brother, we've balanced our need for privacy with the mystery around the
corner who sees our every secret. Now, however, privacy is becoming a
delusion. It is barely possible to surrender privacy to God, and only
possible because of trust in love and mercy. As mere humans become the
mystery around the corner, we expect little love or mercy from them.
I have seen a piece of this in my workplace, where people were nearly fired
because of inflammatory comments they made in their e-mail. The good thing
(or at least, what I thought was good at the time) was that it revealed not
only that e-mail COULD be read by company authorities, but that it actually
was read. But now, with the proven knowledge that authorities are an
unseen audience, the e-mail is more guarded and nuanced more for political
maneuver.
People inevitably do things they are ashamed of. Some things rightfully
engender shame; others trigger a conflict between conscience and imposed
values. But whether from malice, mistake or ambivalent rebellion against
somebody else's mistake, people who do things will do some things that
they'd rather keep hidden. As the ability to hide disappears, I fear that
people will do less, that they will hide within inoffensiveness. I have
seen that tendency in myself - overridden it in some cases; accepted it as
prudent in others.
Perhaps as privacy disappears, it will be replaced by courage. But it will
be a difficult thing to inspire. Courage is rarely revealed by those who
risk and are not harmed. Rather, courage is revealed in sacrifice, and it
is hard to get others to look beyond the sacrifice to see what the
sacrifice was for. Even in people who speak of following the Way of the
Cross, the focus I've seen has been more on martyrdom and less on the cause
for which martyrdom is a transitory step. Both fear and pride put the
sacrifice in the foreground.
But lack of courage in big things is not the real problem in loss of
privacy. It's the lack of courage in little things. People may, to
greater or lesser degree, be counted on to risk safety for grand causes.
However, I doubt many people would risk ridicule for picking their nose.
It is the little embarrassments that build the habits of self-sensorship
and self-inhibition.
All the more reason, then, to show not just courage, but also love and
mercy. To make the world as safe as we can for others to show courage in
little things, so that they can endure the lack of privacy without giving
up the will to act.<<
To which I can only add, "Amen."
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Wingate [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, October 11, 1999 2:51 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [CTRL] Computer uses cat's brain to see
>
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> Friday, October 8, 1999 Published at 20:57 GMT 21:57 UK
>
> Computer uses cat's brain to see
>
> Scientists have literally seen the world through cat's eyes
>
> By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
>
> In what is bound to become a much debated and highly controversial
> experiment, a team of US scientists have wired a computer to a cat's brain
> and created videos of what the animal was seeing.
>
<snip>
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