You can never be secure.
You will either fall victim to trust, or you will live in an apocalyptic "state of nature" where no one trusts anyone else.
There is no society without trust, only chaos. When trust exists, cooperation and society are possible, yet there will always be people who will misuse trust to further their own ends.
Government actions such as the Patriot Act (versions one and two), as well as private "security" initiatives such as surveillance cameras, have little real effect on the "bad guys". All they do is set up more trip wires for the stupid ones, at the expense of instilling a culture of suspicion.
Determined bad guys will always find a way to do bad things, despite the best efforts of society, because of trust.
You can never be secure. Deal with it.
Posted by Patrick at February 27, 2003 03:30 PM | TrackBack