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Name: ^(Da_Vinci)^
From: Washington
Bio: Internet User, Philosophiser
Area of Expertise: Futurist/Consultant
Topic: Global Relationships/Politics
Headline: A Sentient Society
Nutshell: The Foundations for Cyber Ethics
Vision:If our society seems more nihilistic than that of previous eras, perhaps this is simply a sign of our maturity as a sentient species.
Technological advance is an inherently iterative process. One does not simply take sand from the beach and produce a data probe. We use crude tools to fashion better ones, and then our better tools to fashion more precise tools, and so on. Each minor refinement is a step in the process, and all of the steps must be taken, so it was with the lightbulb so it is with the internet.
We all know the great part the internet and electronic computers play in warfare. Information, the first principle of warfare must form the foundations of your entire efforts. Know, of course, thine enemy. But in knowing him do not forget above all else to know thyself. The commander who embraces this totality of battle will winh even with inferior forces.
The righteous need not cower before the drumbeat of Human progress, as the song of yesterday fades into the song of tommorow, God still watches and judges us. Evil lurks in the datalinks as it did in the streets of yesteryear, but it was never the streets that were evil.
The fact of the matter remains that computer technology is taking over, and we must be ready to deal with it morally, or else risk our children’s exposure to what we don not regulate.
Proper care and education for our children remains a cornerstone of our entire civilization. Children not only shape our future, they determine in many ways our present. Parents work harder knowing their children are safe and close at hand, and never forget that with children present, parents will defend their home to the death.
So you see, Cyber Ethics are neccesary. The founding fathers never anticipated the world we live in today, how could they? But they did leave us with the ability to evolve and adapt our Constitution and government as we have done over the past 200 years. It is not wrong or Un-Constitutional to have a set of cyber ethics, does anyone think it is right to have Nazis and Terrorists using the internet against us!
We have reached an informational threshold which can only be crossed if we are prepared and vigilant. For as the internet invades our computers, phones, even our cars we need to be prepared or else, period!
Date Submitted: November 11, 2004
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