[ExI] openness again

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2016-04-03 13:17, spike wrote:
>
>
> It used to be power was derived from differential control of wealth.  
> Now Orwell’s vision and Brin’s vision are coming to pass, as power has 
> become a derivative of differential control of information.
>

But if that control is not reliable, power becomes unreliable. (Cases in 
point: the Panama papers, the Unaoil scandal, the Snowden revelations) 
The problem for the information-powerful is that the differential can 
shift suddenly and unpredictably, which makes long-term planning harder. 
Sure, they often have multiple sources of power, but if one suddenly 
shifts and the newly empowered outsiders start causing trouble about it 
this requires the use of the other reserves too: they become less de 
facto powerful.

One rational approach is to be short-term: assume a leak will happen, 
squeeze out as much benefit as possible before it happens and then 
hightail it. That doesn't lead to very well behaved governance. Another 
approach is to try to secure the control, but that is harder than it 
looks because the information infrastructure is massively leaky 
(partially by design). The third is to make it so that a loss of 
differential doesn't cause friction: yes, others now know what you know, 
but you have such a good reputation that you can still be ahead and 
regain the differential in some other domain.


-- 
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University

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