Thursday, March 22, 2007

Military Technology


You know, of all the military technologies every invented, I think I like the internet the best. It was invented in 1962 out of the US Department of Defense's DARPA program. They needed a way to transmit information even in the event of a nuclear war. So they created this web of information, with servers ALL over the world. And it was designed really well, because it had to resist attempts to control it or shut it down. And it was originally just going to be used for military secrets, and then that expanded to using it as a library.

Some people say that in a matter of years the internet is going to be the world's first true artificial intelligence.

So it went to the academics, it was really good for publishing scientific studies. And then the nerds got a hold of it, because you can play dungeons and dragons on it and so forth, and talk about stuff. And then amateur pornographers got a hold of it. And on and on it went until today, when pretty much everyone uses it. And some intensely dark sides of human nature were naturally able to show up on it, along with light things like spiritual growth. And I think the military eventually realized that they had inadvertently created a truly democratic publishing forum. And so all kinds of laws started coming in to place, stuff under all kinds of more neutral names, because that's how those laws show up. And people were whipped up into supporting the governments again, and they did.

But they still talked online. Only this time they were open and upfront about themselves, especially if they were part of the majority. And suddenly it was in vogue to hate minorities again, because the older generation honestly didn't know that people had started being honest on the internet. They thought people still lied all the time. And I'm sure some of the time they do. And that's why these wars are failing.

It's different though, the internet is still primarily an American phenomenon, so shameless confession just automatically was kicked off in an entire generation of American youth. The soldiers now going to war have never known a time when the internet wasn't used to tell the truth. And of course, if you're doing it through a military technology, then the soldiers obviously are in constant internet access.

This may be the first time in history that war crimes have been exposed by the criminals themselves in real time.

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