[extropy-chat] How to bring down repressive regimes...

Samantha Atkins sjatkins at gmail.com
Sat Jun 26 19:51:18 UTC 2004


This makes the assumption that a repressive regime gains and keeps
power based primarily on the ignorance and lack of free communication
among the people.   I don't believe this is close enough to the full
story.  In North Korea, for instance, one also needs to account for
the extremely harsh living conditions and economy.  And no, history
does not bear out that this was all the fault of said oppressive
regime.   Some of it actually came from fallout after the Korean war,
various embargos and so on.  Even a people that communicate freely and
have access to outside ideals will not necessarily easily overcome
those conditions or decide they are better off creating an internal
revolution.

It is also quite doubtful that an internal revolution could succeed
and very likely it will not succeed without massive citizen
casualties.   Most of the arms belong to the N. Korean military.  
Unless you are talking military coup, which is seldom less oppressive,
I don't believe dropping a bunch of internet terminal devices will be
a lot of help.   It should also be noted that the same technology
purported to be a cure can be used in other applications for much
greater surveillance and control of the people.

-s

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 12:35:42 -0700 (PDT), Adrian Tymes
<wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:
> 
> --- Chris Phoenix <cphoenix at CRNano.org> wrote:
> > Here's one possibility: Drop a large number of
> > small, solar-powered,
> > grid-networking computer/communication devices with
> > built-in cameras all
> > over the country.  Put Internet portals just outside
> > the borders, and/or
> > drop a few satellite links inside.  Instant free
> > press!  How long could
> > a repressive regime survive if everyone could
> > document and publish
> > everything in real time?  Consider how fax machines
> > changed the dynamic
> > of Tiananmen Square.  Rodney King... Vietnam War...
> > heck, all the way
> > back to Gandhi in India--he knew how to use the
> > press!
> >
> > Anyone want to calculate how much it'd cost to build
> > a million of these
> > things within five years, including R&D?  Remember
> > that you'll have
> > technology 4.5 years better than today's, including
> > OLEDs, inkjet
> > circuitry, and polymer solar cells.  And much of the
> > R&D could probably
> > come from Open Source and assorted idealist
> > hobbyists.  A good first
> > guess might be obtained by plotting a price curve
> > for camera cell phones.
> 
> Didn't we discuss this exact plan a month or two
> back?  I think it came to about $20 million for, say,
> a country the size of North Korea.  Very little R&D
> needed: the more advanced PDAs available off the
> shelf today meet almost all the needs as is, and there
> are solar panel chargers for them also available off
> the shelf.  Long range wireless adaptors, too
> (satellite, even), if one is concerned about range.
> Most of the R&D would be writing software to educate
> the peasants (or "uneducated subsistence farmers")
> about how to use the device, starting with basic
> literacy (not computer literacy, though that comes
> later) and concepts like making sure the solar panels
> get long periods of sunlight when the PDA runs low on
> power.  (This would have to be balanced with something
> to make them realize what they have and why it's worth
> learning to use.)
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