"Silicon Valley manifestoes boil down to who can write the best defense of our neo-feudal future"

[Ya' Cousin Cleon]

For anyone who wants to see democracy prevail in the most hostile and unlikely environments, the first decade of the new millennium was marked by a sense of bitter disappointment, if not utter disillusionment. The seemingly inexorable march of freedom that began in the late 1980s has not only come to a halt but may have reversed its course.

Expressions like "freedom recession" have begun to break out of the think-tank circuit and enter the public conversation. In a state of quiet desperation, a growing number of Western policymakers began to concede that the Washington Consensus—that set of dubious policies that once promised a neoliberal paradise at deep discounts—has been superseded by the Beijing Consensus, which boasts of delivering quick-and-dirty prosperity without having to bother with those pesky institutions of democracy.

The West has been slow to discover that the fight for democracy wasn’t won back in 1989. For two decades it has been resting on its laurels, expecting that Starbucks, MTV, and Google will do the rest just fine. Such a laissez-faire approach to democratization has proved rather toothless against resurgent authoritarianism, which has masterfully adapted to this new, highly globalized world. Today’s authoritarianism is of the hedonism- and consumerism-friendly variety, with Steve Jobs and Ashton Kutcher commanding far more respect than Mao or Che Guevara. No wonder the West appears at a loss. While the Soviets could be liberated by waving the magic wand of blue jeans, exquisite coffee machines, and cheap bubble gum, one can’t pull the same trick on China. After all, this is where all those Western goods come from.

Library Genesis: Evgeny Morozov - The net delusion: the dark side of Internet freedom

 

[The Prince of All Saiyans]

No Thread Left Behind

 

[newworldafro]

been trying to tell yall....this censorship shiit is the shiit that's gone have yall wondering in a few years how we got here...


When your online activities and "real world" activities converge ..... the digital realm will prevent you from enjoying the "real world".

Like the Sesame Social Credit Score they are initiating in China.....say something that offends the authoritied. and they will downgrade your Social Credit Score impactng your activity in the real world.

Your Credit Score Is Played Out: "China Creating 'Social Credit' Scores to Rule Citizens' Lives"