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When the physicists need burner phones, that's when you know America's changed

(www.theguardian.com)
267 points giuliomagnifico | 6 comments | 29 Mar 25 18:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.816s | source | bottom
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whatshisface ◴[29 Mar 25 19:12 UTC] No.43517781[source]▶
One of the important things to watch for is the linkup of the papers please people with the internet scanners. Right now they seem to be limited to seizing your personal effects, but that is a matter of coordination between departments of the government. If there are laws against it, they are adjacent to other laws which were ignored even in previous years. Once that occurs the use of professional use devices will not make the crossing safe.
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FredPret ◴[29 Mar 25 19:31 UTC] No.43517958[source]▶
Sounds like a social credit score derived from your entire online identity.

I hope that picture of reality stays in Black Mirror.

It would represent a huge decline in personal liberty in the West so I’m betting it will be so unpopular as to be impossible, especially as older voters are replaced by digital natives who are aware of the problem.

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1. tdeck ◴[29 Mar 25 19:48 UTC] No.43518111[source]▶
> I’m betting it will be so unpopular as to be impossible

People have said the same thing about gutting Social Security, but it seems like that's on the chopping block right now unfortunately.

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2. FredPret ◴[29 Mar 25 19:58 UTC] No.43518201[source]▶
Social Security is very popular but hasn’t been baked into the Western soul for the past 1-2k years like the idea of personal agency & liberty has.

In addition, SS requires a budget so is more open to controversy. Respecting individuals is free; violating their rights requires a budget as well.

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3. Avshalom ◴[29 Mar 25 20:52 UTC] No.43518636[source]▶
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade Whose personal agency and liberty?
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4. gessha ◴[29 Mar 25 21:42 UTC] No.43518972[source]▶
> personal agency & liberty

Those two were very suppressed under monarchy and the Christian religion. It wasn’t until modern secularism that those two truly blossomed.

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5. FredPret ◴[29 Mar 25 22:07 UTC] No.43519153{3}[source]▶
Slavery was always widespread; it was Westerners who saw the moral inconsistency between their self-image and owning slaves, and then fought wars with one another and others to end it globally.

The journey from serfdom to modern human rights was a long one, but it had a clear upward trend.

6. FredPret ◴[29 Mar 25 22:13 UTC] No.43519194{3}[source]▶
Even so there were clear steps in the right direction.

Monarchs grew steadily more circumscribed from a de jure point of view. Eventually they became constitutional monarchs, then mere figureheads. Their de facto power also went from absolute steadily downward.

The same trend happened with Christianity: at one time the Pope was so powerful, he broke up the Holy Roman Empire. But there were many reformations, revolutions, Protestantism.

There's a clear trend of decentralization across the entire West, spanning a thousand years - because of individuals insisting on what we now call their inalienable human rights.