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A look at our modern oracle
December 07, 2007
"Having examined a few of the ways in which the computer utility may be used, we turn now to a consideration of its possible impact on our society ... We must be careful to not draw any hasty conclusions regarding the inevitability of progress. Those who are caught up in a maelstrom of a revolution rarely find it easy to see the true goals of that revolution. Things happen too fast; events, developing a momentum all of their own, tend to get out of control with bewildering rapidity, and all too often today's brilliant dreams become the dark nightmares of the future.
"It requires no surfeit of extrasensory perception to see some of the dangers that might face us if certain capabilities of the computer utility were to be misdirected. Together, the various data files of the different networks - medical, educational, financial, legal, law enforcement, etc. - could contain a complete record from birth until death of even the most private affairs of everyone. In the absence of adequate controls, there are obviously enormous possibilities for industrial espionage and even blackmail in such a situation. Worse still are the possibilities for political repression inherent in a system in which one could not purchase so much as a stick of chewing gum without immediately revealing one's identity and whereabouts to the central computer. There is an uncomfortable aura of '1984' in all this. Thus it is not difficult to visualize how the computer utility might be perverted until it degenerated into nothing more than an instrument of total political control - the omnipresent eyes and ears of 'big brother.' ...
"One is tempted here to draw an analogy with the case of the oracle at Delphi. Unfortunately though, the potential for mischief of our modern oracle is infinitely greater than Delphi's ever was, even at its zenith. In the Greek case, the principal result of the priest's attempts to manipulate the truth was that the oracle was discredited and its usefulness to the ancient world destroyed. We could consider ourselves fortunate indeed if the only consequence of the misuse of the modern information utility was the ruin of the utility. But unfortunately, there is also the possibility that the tampering might succeed and as free expression was slowly strangled, finally carry us into the everlasting night of a self-perpetuating Fascism."
From D. F. Parkhill's "The Challenge of the Computer Utility," published in 1966.
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Comments
Nick
You might want to look at some of Bob Blakley's work on the notion of an Identity Oracle (http://identityblog.burtongroup.com/bgidps/2007/10/what-the-identi.html), which sets out to address some of the "oracle" challenges outlined by Parkhill.
Neil
Posted by: Neil Macehiter ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.roughtype.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 7, 2007 11:44 AM
Very prescient. We continue to be adept at developing wondrous gadgets and programs and at rejoicing in their benefits; and relatively incapable of recognizing their hazards, much less at curbing or controlling them.
Posted by: Tom Panelas at December 7, 2007 03:55 PM
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