{"id":137,"date":"2014-06-06T15:05:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T23:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/?p=137"},"modified":"2014-06-10T11:06:43","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T19:06:43","slug":"information-flow-freedom-and-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/information-flow-freedom-and-responsibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Information Flow, Freedom and Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I drove to my office on June 4, 2014, I was reminded that this date is the 25th<\/sup> anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. My mind filled with memories of that 1989 event as I heard the news announcer say, \u201c\u2026of course, the internet didn\u2019t exist back then, so\u2026\u201d \u00a0What?!<\/em> With that verbal nudge, I recalled sitting in my office in the springtime of 1989 at my Apollo DN3000 Workstation computer, reading reports sent by a Chinese participant in the demonstrations about his experiences and perceptions of the protests and government reactions.<\/p>\n

The internet was in its embryonic form back then but it existed, sort of.<\/p>\n

In the software world at that time, engineers were excited to be able to send messages to each other by bouncing them from machine to machine across intermittently connected networks. I was proud to say that I could get a message from Portland, Oregon to my buddy Steve in Boston within 2 hours time by using the proper sequence of hops. We called those messages \u201cemail\u201d, a new term that wasn\u2019t widely known yet but soon would become ubiquitous. And we had access to a broad range of \u201cbulletin boards\u201d where those with access and know-how could exchange information and ideas with anyone connected to \u201cthe net.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spring of 1989, Steve pointed me at a bulletin board that contained messages supposedly posted by a young man in China about a demonstration that had spontaneously formed somewhere in Beijing. What an amazing thing these electronic bulletin boards were! They brought us news that wasn\u2019t accessible anywhere else, from sources that the news channels didn\u2019t access. We had a new source of information flow at our fingertips. Those were heady times for anyone interested in the flow of information.<\/p>\n

The protests that I followed in the spring of 1989 were in part about the free flow of information \u2013 what those Chinese demonstrators identified as \u201cfreedom of the press\u201d and \u201cfreedom of speech.\u201d Sitting in my office in Oregon, I was excited to be experiencing exactly what the protestors were agitating for in China. Here was an example not only of information flow, but information about protests about freedom of information flow. By reading that young Chinese man\u2019s words I was participating in the flow of information and the \u201cfreedom of speech\u201d that those thousands were demanding from their government.<\/p>\n

I was excited about that in 1989 and I\u2019m still excited now.<\/p>\n

It seems like those concerns about the free flow of information are just as relevant today as they were back in 1989. Our information concerns today are about Net Neutrality, NSA data collection and surveillance, and an active and free press. Will the balance tip toward freedom or restriction? Or perhaps some unhappy compromise of both?<\/p>\n

In his 2000 book \u201cNonzero\u201d Robert Wright argues that capitalism requires information flow in order to thrive, and that once established, capitalism puts pressure on societies to maintain and enrich the flow of information. In Wright\u2019s words, \u201cCapitalism makes the world safe for itself.\u201d (p. 148) and \u201cThe power of this information metatechnology would time and again prove irresistible.\u201d (p. 151)<\/p>\n

If Robert Wright is \u201cright\u201d about the relationship between capitalism and information, then perhaps our capitalist economic system will ensure that we\u2019ll continue to reap the benefit of information flow. Maybe any restriction in information flow (like, Net Non-Neutrality) will right itself due to the pressures of capitalism. If so, I\u2019d like that. As much as capitalism is blamed for problems, I\u2019d also like to focus on its benefits.<\/p>\n

Back when information traveled at the speed of horses and sailing ships, Thomas Jefferson had a lot to say about the necessity of providing information to the people. In a 1786 letter to Dr. James Currie, Jefferson wrote, \u201cOur liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jefferson seems to have had strong feelings about information and freedom since he\u2019s quoted discussing information and freedom in correspondence over the next several decades.\u00a0 In an 1816 letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, Jefferson wrote, \u201cThe functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in 1823, Jefferson wrote to the Marquis de la Fayette<\/a>\u00a0, \u201cBut\u00a0the only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted, when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure.\u201d<\/p>\n

These quote from Jefferson\u2019s letters are from \u201cThe Writings of Thomas Jefferson\u201d edited by \u00a0Albert Ellery Bergh\u00a0and Andrew Adgate Lipscomb (1903), which I was able to access from several sources via internet \u00a0\u2013 the Kindle Store, Project Gutenberg, memory.loc.gov, Google eBooks, my public library and constitution.org.\u00a0 Robert Wright\u2019s claims about capitalism pressuring for information flow seem to be bearing out nicely in this case. The diverse range of these sources – some scholarly while others are collaborations by \u201cthe people,\u201d bears out Wrights point about information flow.<\/p>\n

Back to China and 1989. After June 4, the bulletin board feed from China went silent. On broadcast news I saw the images and video and heard onsite reporting about China\u2019s violent reaction to the protests. I watched the infamous \u201ctank man\u201d video. Hundreds of software nerds who had been reading the news \u00a0thread posted by the young man from Beijing were left fearing for his fate. Several weeks passed before we got word from a Silicon Valley source that the young man was safe. I breathed a perplexed sigh of relief. Perplexed, because I couldn\u2019t help but wonder \u2013 was the new information credible? Did it flow freely and without bias? I wish now that I had archived that thread of news from China in 1989.<\/p>\n

The 25th<\/sup> anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre reminds me that I\u2019m interested in the role that information plays in the exercise of freedom. In exercising freedom, I want to inform myself about options, about issues that need to be considered or confronted, about limitations and responsibilities. I do this so that I can make decisions that accord with my sense of moral responsibility to myself, my family or to the world. That kind of informing process depends on access to accurate and complete information. As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, global and complex, having accurate and complete information is essential to exercising freedom in a responsible and optimal way. For an illustration, consider the effect that biased and tainted information has had on the politicization of climate change during the past 25 years. How morally responsible has our resulting inaction been?<\/p>\n

So today I\u2019m reminded to honor the protestors at Tiananmen, the whistle-blowers who keep governments honest and the public informed, and others who work in outstanding ways to keep me informed about things that are important. I\u2019m grateful for all that you do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

Constitution Society. (1853). The Writings of Thomas Jefferson<\/em>. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.constitution.org\/tj<\/a><\/p>\n

Frontline. (2014, May 13 & May 20). The United States of Secrets<\/em>. Retrieved June 4, 2014, from http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/united-states-of-secrets\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Library of Congress American Memory. Thomas Jefferson Papers. Retrieved June 4, 2014, from http:\/\/memory.loc.gov\/ammem\/collections\/jefferson_papers\/mtjquote.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Lipscomb, Andrew A., & Bergh, Albert Ellery. (1903). The Writings of Thomas Jefferson<\/em> [Kindle Version]. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association.<\/p>\n

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 4, 2014, from http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989<\/a><\/p>\n

Wright, Robert. (2000). Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny<\/em> [Kindle Version]. New York, NY: Pantheon.<\/p>\n

By Stephen Shostek, Portland Therapist
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As I drove to my office on June 4, 2014, I was reminded that this date is the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. My mind filled with memories of that 1989 event as I heard the news announcer say, \u201c\u2026of course, the internet didn\u2019t exist back then, so\u2026\u201d \u00a0What?! With that verbal nudge, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-existential","category-self_world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}