Science Fiction question

[tigertoy]

That is, a question that science fiction should be examining, not a question about science fiction.

From the beginning of human civilization, we've had various sorts of rules, many of which were stupid. The primary defense mechanism against stupid rules was to simply ignore them; we could know they wouldn't be enforced, usually because no one would know we'd violated them.

Today, we're developing technology that creates, for the first time in history, the possibility of truly enforcing rules that many people think are overly intrusive, ethically wrong, or just plain crazy. Will that technology bring about the most oppressive society humanity has seen yet, or will it finally cause people to stop allowing rules they don't support to exist (because they can no longer say "it's not really a problem; I can ignore that rule like everyone else does")?

Discuss.

Comments

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

It's not just laws on the books (though there certainly are plenty of real passed-by-the-legislature-and-signed-by-the-executive laws that are complete travesties of American ideals and/or good sense). There are far more regulations, policies, precedents, and company rules that are either stupid in concept or just miserably written. For all that people like to talk about the rule of law (especially when some particular thing they don't like is against the letter of the law, or someone they want to make look bad has violated the letter of the law), we only actually get by day to day by using a common sense understanding of what's really OK. With automated systems monitoring activity, do people obey the stupid, or does the stupid get changed?

Speed limits are a good example. They're stupidly low, but nobody worries about it very much because everybody just drives at a closer to reasonable speed. But in a few years, there will be technology in place that can track every car well enough that anyone who goes 56 in a 55 for 10 seconds can get an automated speeding ticket. Governments would love it for the money. People will hate it, but will they be mad enough to actually get it to change, or will they just accept their commutes being longer, their highways being more congested, and their vacations truncated?

[blur01.livejournal.com]

Automated ticketing systems have already proven to be problematic in a number of jurisdictions. I went looking for evidence of something that I'd been told but failed to find it but did find some interesting information (Here: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersections/rlc_guide/rlc_bib.htm#Toc93387608) that reminded me that there will continue to be those who throw themselves (willingly or accidentally) into the line of fire through civil disobedience and these cases do sometimes make it to the right court systems to be allowed to be judged in the light.