Subj : Re: Computer Kits
To   : boraxman
From : Jeff
Date : Fri Jan 28 2022 09:31:45

On 29 Jan 2022, boraxman said the following...
 bo>  Je> By the way, I have never met you nor you I, but here we are conversin
 bo>  Je> across some unknown distance great or small. Whether the device that
 bo>  Je> enables us to access this technology fits into the palm of our hand o
 bo>  Je> not is irrelevant.
 bo> That is what I like about BBS's.  I can talk to people with Silicon
 bo> Valley editoralising, without surveillance, without having the
 bo> conversation be the record of the world.  I kind of do wonder about how
 bo> 'private' it really is. I mean, I know its not secret, but its not that
 bo> public.

It's there for anyone to see.

 bo> Communication would be different if you know that everything you said was
 bo> tracked, logged, could be scrutinised anytime in the future by anyone. 
 bo> You'd live with it, but it would change you.

Authors and public figures have dealt with this for centuries, and it's only
really a problem if one fails to moderate one's own self. I stand by the
opinions I've expressed online and have nothing to be ashamed of; if
anything, I hope that they preserve a record of me being a good person.

If someone experiences stress or low self-esteem because they fear that their
social media history does not portray them in a good light, then perhaps they
need to strive to be a better person, the person that they want reflected on
social media. If more people realized that, then perhaps such scrutiny could
be a good thing for society.

If someone fails to get a job because something racist they said on social
media surfaces, I think the question needs to be "why are they posting racist
things on social media" and not "is social media harmful because it preserved
this racist thing that this person said?"

Computers and improved communication have made it much more difficult to
escape our pasts than ever before. Is that a good or bad thing? A couple of
centuries ago, one could escape one's past by simply moving to the next town,
county, or state (depending on the severity of one's past transgressions) and
start a new life. That is becoming less and less possible over time (again,
depending on the severity of one's past transgressions). Perhaps the solution
is to publicly atone for one's past transgressions rather than trying to hide
from them ("one" being a purely impersonal reference to a hypothetical person
in a hypothetical set of circumstances, and in no way intended to be
personally accusatory). That might even contribute to the betterment of
society by setting a good example for others to follow.

Jeff.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (21:1/180)

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