That is one fascinating read. Thanks, Stick.
This stuck out to me:
As Cybersyn expanded beyond the initial goals of economic regulation to political-structural transformation, Stafford grew concerned that Cybersyn could prove dangerous if the system wasn’t fully completed and only individual components of the project adopted. He feared this could result in “result in ‘ an old system of government with some new tools … For if the invention is dismantled, and the tools used are not the tools we made, they could become instruments of oppression.”
Well, duh. Authors have been writing of such a system since Orwell and beyond.
Everyone right now should take a deep breath and thank the lord that a few American universities (financed by the DoD) and some European entities formed the Internet and let it free to the world. We're truly witnessing an age of revolution, much like the advent of the internal combustion engine or the Renaissance but I think few actually realize just how important our porn, mindless chatter, and communication really is in the long run.
Things could have gone terribly wrong. Luckily for the world, it went right and we're all reaping the benefits.
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