RIS ID
24222
Abstract
The evolution of computing did not only result in the disengagement of thepopulace from its technological complexity, but also their submission to thedivine ability of 'scientists', who understand the mathematical complexityof information technologies. Socrates argued that both 'misanthropy' and'misology' stem from 'faith' placed in unreliable people and unsoundarguments. Such misplaced faith in surveillance technologies and theirprotractors, for example, often results in disengagement from debate, whichto Socrates was the antithesis to truth and wisdom. This paper explores howsociety is opting out of debate through the machinations of a neoconservativecredo that purports reason. Under the guise of freedom and democracy, suchdogma often exploit the public disorientation following massive collectiveshocks to achieve control, by imposing economic shock therapy to affectchange. The resulting profiteering bubble of few private hands appropriatingpublic wealth, are often accompanied by exploding debts. The threat of adisenfranchised populace left outside the 'profiteering bubble', promptsthe need for aggressive surveillance. This paper concludes that deifyingscientific faith and the degeneration of rationality into subservience tocommercial interests have resulted in the rise of a fundamentalist brandof global capitalism, that thrive on the corporatisation of national security,and which is giving rise to a new security world order.
Publication Details
Mickhail, G. M. (2008). National security and the misology-misanthropy paradox of technology. In K. Michael & M. G. Michael (Eds.), The Third Workshop on the Social Implications of National Security (pp. 131-138). Wollongong: University of Wollongong.