Even the most casual student of history realizes that human beings are greedy, impulsive, and cruel. But… — John Twelve Hawks
Even the most casual student of history realizes that human beings are greedy, impulsive, and cruel. But Bentham's prison showed us that societal control was possible with the right sort of technology. There was no need to have a policemen standing on every corner. All you need is a Virtual Panopticon that monitors your population. You aren't required to literally watch them all the time, but the masses have to accept the possibility and the inevitability of punishment. You need the structure, the system, the implicit threat that becomes a fact of life. When people discard their notions of privacy, they permit a peaceful society.
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"I hate zoos," she told Gabriel. "They remind me of prisons."
"People like to see animals."
"Citizens want to kill wild creatures or put them into cages. It helps them forget that they're also prisoners."
Virtue is admirable, but boring.
Most people go through life never knowing the truth about the major events of their time. They're watching a farce performed at the edge of the stage while the real drama is going on behind the curtain.
