The Creepy New Wave of the Internet

Rifkin's comments are creepy. Yes it's true-- throughout most of human history privacy didn't exist and people lived their lives in public. Yet it's also true that much of human history was utter stagnation and conformity where nothing much happened.

He also makes the common mistake, also made by Thiel when he discusses the ethics of Palantir, of assuming that the panopticon is symmetrical. In reality those with money, connections, or the criminal ability to break into systems have access to far more information than the average person. The loss of privacy is extremely asymmetrical as well-- those with either the money or the technical ability to hide can still do so.

Reminds me very much of the Adam Curtis documentary "All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace" (2011), which gives an interesting narrative of this movement's beginning.

I should make a bot that posts when Ray Kurzweil is mentioned or used as source material for a HN post so I can save 30 seconds and a heavy sigh.