[CrackMonkey] Information Wants to Be Free

[Dylan Northrup]

On 24 Apr 2000, Mr. Bad wrote:

[interesting discussion about information and its seeming behaviorial
characteristics deleted]

:=I guess what got me worried was applying this idea to one of the most
:=powerful and dangerous pieces of information on Earth: the recipe for
:=making and deploying nuclear weapons. Obviously, if this information
:=were available freely around the globe, there would be huge damage and
:=human casualties (even if you factor in the need for significant
:=physical resources). 

The information is already available.  You can get the skinny on how to
build a fission and a fusion bomb out of most high school text books.

What you can't get are the materials and tools necessary for construction of
said bomb.  Not only are the fissionable materials tightly regulated (which
are required even if you're making a fusion bomb), but any mil-spec tools
which you need to make the bomb are also tightly regulated.

Anyone else notice that Boeing and Lockheed both recently got in trouble
with the government for letting the Chinese purchase highly precise tools
and computer systems?  It's just so this sort of thing doesn't happen
(in this case, they're trying to prevent China from making more
sophisticated rockets. . . China's already got the stuff for making bombs
if'n you didn't know).

[snip]

:=The strategy so far has been to contain the information with all the
:=full force and power of the US government (and its nuclear state
:=enemies/allies, and signatories to various treaties). 

Not really.  They're just keeping the materials and exact specifications
secret.  Doing any reasonable research into the field (which you would
expect any budding nuclear power to do) you can get most of what you need
from scientific journals.  If you can't get everything there, just send one
of your brightest agents to college over here in the US and have them study
Nuclear Engineering.  We'll be more than happy to teach them how to make a
reactor.  All for the low, low price of a college degree.

:=However,
:=information -wants- to be free, as we know. It WILL get out, and into
:=the hands of practically anyone who wants it. We've been in a nuclear
:=age for 50 years, and despite the best efforts of some of the smartest
:=and most ruthless people ever, the information has -still- snuck out
:=to about a dozen different nation-states.

Damn those deported/emigrating graduates!

[snip]

:=My main worry is this: is there any LONG-TERM strategy to be ready for
:=the day when tactical nukes are available in every Afghani vegetable
:=market? I can only think of two possibilities:
:=
:=        1) Some sort of technical advance that makes nukes
:=           obsolete. However, that's a local solution, and not a
:=           global solution. Even if you have a personal nuke shield or
:=           whatever, there's still gonna be kerjillions of other
:=           people throwing nuke grenades at each other all around the
:=           globe, and that will eventually make the world unliveable.

I would doubt that more than a tiny fraction of the earth would become a
wasteland before people realised that that's not a good course for survival. 
Even the craziest of crazies needs people supporting them to pull something
like this off.  If people start to realise that sticking your proverbial
head out of the foxhole to throw the nuclear grenade over your border to
nuke your neighbor makes you persona non grata for the entire world and a
prime candidate for reciprocation, it's not likely that the head crazy is
going to have many followers for long (whether they desert or die isn't that
big of a deal).

:=        2) A fundamental change in human nature and human society to
:=           make national, factional and religious warfare obsolete. In
:=           other words, don't change the nukes, but change people so
:=           they won't use nukes.

Like people sick of seeing picture after picture of the latest tragedy of
the nuking of <insert city here>?  Or possibly the visitation by benevolant
aliens who tell us "Gee, why you blow each other up?  That is really
stupid!"  I have a feeling that the gestalt instinct for self preservation
will kick in in time to prevent complete devastation of the species.

:=I don't know if either of these can happen. We might be completely
:=doomed. Goddamned information!!!

Information is never bad, only its misuses.

-- 
Dylan Northrup <*> dylann at corp.earthlink.net <*> Multi-Funky Sysadmin <*>
"Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what
must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness." --Shaw