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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat<br><br><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><br>>…I can't say what this reveals about Italy, …<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I can. Read on please.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><br>>…Maybe a plot showing COVID-19 infection and mortality rates against ... Hm, against what? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Religious practices. Read on please.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>>… how 'politicised' it is (e.g. the tendency to twist everything towards scoring political points…-- Ben Zaiboc<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Ben, we USians are in a major transition in two areas (at least.) For the last three years our federal government has been at war with itself with no truce in sight. I see no point in taking sides in those battles. The next leaders will get involved in the same struggles for all the same reasons.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Second: we are in a major transition with respect to openness. Our government recognized there is no practical way to keep its own secrets. Top clearance holders were given annual courses on all the bad things that will happen if one leaked the information, even accidentally. Then in 2004 the former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger was caught removing classified information from the National Archives. He never went to prison. A few years later, the Secretary of State was caught mishandling classified information. She never went to prison. If people that high up don’t face legal consequences, no reasonable prosecutor will even attempt to press charges against lower-ranking employees. Consequence: the US government can no longer contain its own secrets.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Recall that Julian Assange is one of ours (from about 1995 to about 2000.) That insightful lad foresaw all of what we are seeing now. He spoke about how advancing technology would eventually eliminate privacy. It is ironic as all hell that he is the one facing legal consequences when he wasn’t the one who leaked the information, and the information for which he is most reviled for exposing wasn’t even classified (it was a political party’s email.) A US military person exposed the government stuff (and that person is now free.) Yet another irony is that no one really cares about the government stuff, but the political party stuff is what made the news.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK, so… what if… we get to the point that Julian foresaw: governments lag behind technology and no one can keep secrets? His vision was that the result would be honest government and peace.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>May it be so.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>