This article will look into the enormous possible impact of Wikileaks on human evolution using Richard Dawkins' theory of "Nice Guys Finish First" about social evolution (Social Darwinism) & why JFK & Abraham Lincoln would have welcomed Wikileaks & will also try to explain why Wikileaks could be most momentous event in history of mankind since Gutenberg printed first book over half millennium back!
Wikileaks -Greatest thing to humanity since Project Gutenberg
When in the year 2000 AD at the dawn of new millennium Discovery channel set on to find the most influential person of last millennium the list of nominees were impressive. From Joan-o- Arc to Galileo, Newton, Einstein to Lincoln , JFK , Washington , Russo to James Watt to every single great mind that was born in last 1000 years. But the honor went to an seemingly ordinary German chap Gutenberg! Yes, the same guy who printed first book by inventing printing machine. His discovery could have been most simple amongst everything that followed ,in fact not even scientifically ground breaking ;but it was one step of courage which freed the knowledge and caused flood of information and everything that was followed after it changed course of humanity. Be it Industrial revolution or French revolution, Be it Galileo or Newton or Einstein or be it Democracy or Globalization everything was ripple effect of that one simple step to free the knowledge and information to ordinary folks by printing books.
And that was only the beginning of a tide of print that has been rising ever since. We can hardly imagine a world without an abundance of printed matter, and thus we take for granted an invention that produced astonishing consequences. The dissemination of the writings of Greek and Roman authors led to a revival of the classical learning that spurred the Renaissance. Printed religious texts put the word of God directly into the hands of lay readers. Such personal contacts helped fuel the Protestant Reformation and challenging Church's authority over state.
Before print, the ability to read was useful mainly to the elite and the trained scribes who handled their affairs. Affordable books made literacy a crucial skill and an unprecedented means of social advancement to those who acquired it. Established hierarchies began to crumble and monarchy was challenged for first time in over 2000 years. But most important of all, printing proved to be the greatest extension of human consciousness ever created. It isn't over: the 500-year-old information revolution continues on the internet.
Today it would be interesting to look at typical reaction at that point;and reaction was similar to that of Wikileaks; that it will lead to chaos in society, that ordinary folks don't deserve to know so much; too much power for masses; that elite are better gifted and suited to rule the world ,that people don't need this information and most crazily that creation of free & open society is blasphemy and will destroy God!!.(I guess they meant Church). Well reaction became militant after Galileo published his book exposing stupidity of Church and Vatican reacted angrily by putting him in Jail ;even though records show that it was done not for his theory(as Copernicus already published theory) ; but for fear of others getting infected by idea of open knowledge that idea itself was scary to those in power.
What hell all this has to do with Wikileaks? Because Wikileaks unleashed a tsunami of open knowledge and information not seen since then. And the baffling of world governments asking for Julian Assange's head is on exact same lines as Church trying to do by gagging up Galileo. Both of them were after same thing,if people find out what the truth is they will lose the power they have, the imperative part of ruling the masses is keeping them ignorant from reality and creating some kind of matrix around them shielding from reality and this matrix is broken first by the man who invented ability to write thereby creating a society which can pass on and accumulate knowledge to future generation , second version of Neo has to be Gutenberg who unleashed spread of this info and knowledge to masses , but despite this the power coronations remained strictly confined to few till this date. The power corridors are like dark side moon ;doesn't exist for those who cant see it . Its need break that matrix again to see what was invisible so far.
JFK on idea of Open Society and why we deserve one!
That Wikileaks is the greatest phenomenon since the Internet or Google , even Hillary will concede; while many people may or may not realize the impact and significance of it as this point , this is the much needed ladder of social evolution and will have an extremely deep impact in the world we live. There is a phrase in circulation called BG meaning Before Google , implying how the people were living in dark ages before the information became available on internet. It created a globalized society , an irreversible personal evolution. But while we may have evolved from dark ages wrt our personal information , the society at large specially government power cartels are still behind the thickests of iron curtain.
There is no way for ordinary men & woman and society at large to know how corporates work, how government works or wars are being carried out , how laws are made and broken and bend and remade; how international diplomacy gives birth to Bin Laden in 80s, how JFK was killed and everything else ; and that's why the charter of Wikileaks is so incredibly phenomenal ; they stand for creating a informed people , open government and open society. We cant be running our society in 21st century same as way as 200 yrs back of Industrial evolution era but just digitized with same veil of secrecy,censorship and codified silence. We deserve Open Society and Wikileaks hopefully if not killed will fulfill JFK's dream of destroying closed societies.
Anyone remembers JFK's famous speech on how the governments work ? Make no mistake it was the intent of this speech to create a open society that made everyone within establishment too nervous with JFK. Looking at reaction of US govt to Wikileaks and Assange today, it seems no surprise how establishment would have been shocked some 50 yrs back. Its worth reading JFK comments again on closed society specially in light of Wikileaks controversy.
"For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know."
Those in US calling Julian Assange a terrorist would end up branding JFK as mastermind of terrorist organization by same logic.
There are lots of questions raised about Wikileaks endangering lives and how it could jeopardize so many things ; but what they don't understand that its the repercussions of living in s closed society! Would Wikileaks have grossed headlines if Afgan and Iraq war casualties figure wont be suppressed? If mistakes as they were being opend to scrutiny as they are not? Or if target of wikileaks was China ? then maybe Assange would have got Nobel Prize by now!
The questions run far more deeper and sinister than just the issues handled so far by Wikileaks and whats most appalling is the attitude of those who are in power. They hinges on the very idea of aristocratic medieval society meant to be controlled and run by those who are wiser enough to make decisions , the decisions to be kept in dark from stupid and ignorant masses.
In a democratic society there has to be place for mistakes not conspiracies , for strategies not deceit , for delayed information but not for suppressed information and must be favoring by default the individual freedom & choice and not mass hysteria & secrecy.
Richard Dawkins theory for Social Darwinism and Impact of Wikileaks on it
From his famous book "The Selfish Gene" Richard Dawkins elaborates the complex phenomena of theory of social behavior, has examined this issue throughout his whole career and focused in documentary; The Genius of Charles Darwin and Nice Guys Finish First.
The concept of "Reciprocal Altruism" is a central theme of this theory. Dawkins also examines the tragedy of the commons and the dilemma that it presents. The theory illustrates society as series of choices made by subjects under "Prisoners Dilemma". In simple form it means if two subjects cooperates both stands to gain handsomely but if either of them cheats then the one who cooperates loses badly ;so if one cheats next one has to cheat in order to survive.
Dawkins explains further thus that society made of mainly of cheaters and suckers ; as in cheaters who get their job done stands to gain ; while those who cooperates ends up as suckers. In simple words in a society where initial condition is of defection or cheat good guys will end up last while bad guys finish first. But there is more serious consequence of this theory and that is society as a whole stand to loose , as maximum gain possible under Prisoner's dilemma is when all subjects cooperates with each other never realizes in practice. Thus both people and society as a whole remains below their true potential.
What it elaborates is that society by default if based on deceit and secrecy will create offspring's which are corrupt. So as Julian says it puts a tax on being honest in an dishonest world. To put it simply, if everyone is getting defense contracts by bribing ; a honest contractor doesn't stand a chance. Or if everyone is breaking traffic rules then one following traffic rule will meet with an accident. Want a practical demo? Come to India to see it! The repercussions on larger scale are more sinister.
So the system where industries like oil are based upon flouting env norms and orchestrating war; can a honest business ever dream of entering a oil business?, Where international diplomacy is based on double speak by promoting dictatorship and terrorists outside ; like Osama Bin Laden was supported covertly & grown by US in cold war era or a relationship based on lies n manipulation ; all of it end up subsiding bad guys at the cost of good guys; worse in the long run it never pays . Look what Osama bin Laden led to 9/11 attacks or crony capitalism of 90s led to economic recession of today. So if you are trying to do a business where cheaters are making money , you will need to resort to it in order to survive in business or be more profitable than them; if a senseless violence is reality you will need resort to violence in retaliation even if you are peace loving person or nation. But larger question remains is there any permanent solution to this problem? Cant we change this sinister and vicious cycle? Is there a exist a solution to "Prisoner's dilemma"?
Well a system implicitly based on transparency not only favors honest guys it also rewards society at large by having collateral effect of keeping cheaters and defectors being reduced to margins over time. This is not my hypothesis but a derivation of theory of Dawkins' on social evolution.
The algorithm explained below by Dawkins in his theory illustrates most practical ladder of social evolution. Fourteen academics as well as experts in game theory submitted their own computer programs to compete in a tournament to see who would win in the Prisoner's Dilemma. The winner was "Tit for Tat" algorithm. A program which is based on "equal retaliation" and Dawkins illustrates the four conditions of "tit for tat".
1. Unless provoked, the agent/subject/person will always cooperate.
2. If provoked, the agent will retaliate.
3. The agent is quick to forgive.
4. The agent must have a good chance of competing against the opponent more than once.
In a second trial, this time of over sixty applicants "tit for tat" won again. So "Initial niceness" is a conclusion that Richard Dawkins drew from this study and other research for effective cooperation which led him to believe that in fact, "Nice guys finish first." This is in extension of larger theory that are selfish by nature & only fittest survives.
The practical issue in having such society where "Nice guys finish first" algorithm can succeed; is society where bad guys are not already in power. It needs transparency , freedom to foster first cooperative move, if cheated by anyone then ability to retaliate and return to initial conditions of cooperation.Sounds idealistic? Not really.
Imagine the world based on cooperation and not defection. Where if a commander knows war-logs is gonna make public , will think 100 times before justifying or indulging in collateral damage of civilians' killings. If industries knows their inner workings are gonna get publish with internal emails and how bids are made & contracts are secured that will put a ethical tax on those following unfair practices. If diplomacy cables are going to made public ,they are less likely to indulge in covert wars and taking help of fringe groups like Al-Quada in Cold war or indulge in doublespeak. Lets get it clear to those who justifies breaking a law , as it cant be an excuse for anything as it ends up penalizing those who follows the law.
What Wikileaks unleashed is an element with potential to create that initial conditions of step1 where people will choose to cooperate than defect initially as their selfish interest will lie in being seen as fair in a transparent and open society. Whether need of being seen as fair will actually make them fair or not is need to tested but it will prevent those who resort to defection not by choice but by rather by lack of it. Thus a Wikileaks ends up as a leveling gear with fear and incentive both at same time against those who unwillingly resort to cheating .It will keep at check those who defects thereby allowing system to forgive and return to initial conditions as in step 3 . The cheaters and defectors will still remain but as theory explains given a a large set of iterations it will be reduced to margins. It thus has potential for exponential effect to social evolution where "Nice Guys Finish First".
A free , fair , transparent ,open & ethical society; all of those out there who believes we deserve such a society ; For this reason need to support Wikileaks. The philosophy of Wikileaks needs far more support looking at long haul than short term consideration . Its the philosophy which can unlock the untapped unexplored potential of society in long run. Warren Buffet famously said great nation is not created by smartest minds but by unlocking human potential of every individual.
Why Many have chosen to keep silence on Wikileaks ?
Anyone who opposes Wikileaks does it because they have long been part of system which is build on dog eat dog mentality. Lived on deceit for so long that they cant bear the truth. Sure there is gonna be collateral damage , much like it was when church as institution was collapsed or when slavery was abolished or when royalty had to give it's way. But apart from those who have vested interest everyone else benefited in long haul. Wikileaks too needs support looking at long term possible impact
A lot of crap has been going around differentiating between peoples 'right to know' vs 'need to know'. Does people need to know how war carried out? or diplomacy works? ; even if may have right to know it as its not in national interest. This argument is as crap as justification of slavery at height of civil war ; They said "slaves may have right to equality but in larger interest of nation its not prudent to risk sovereignty for Utopian ideal like equality". Its hardly surprising that US which choose to fight over "right to keep slavery alive" is today gunning for Assange's head; he may be a criminal but asking for his assassination? It only shows the psyche of ruling elite who wanna control the masses and instrument of control is iron curtain drawn from diplomacy to business to war to politics.
Some of the conservatives will oppose that Wikileaks because they have been institutionalized , they have given up on idea of honest society as a fairytale and accepted corruption and power games as way of life under pretext of practicality. Just as Russo -great French philosopher had said, "Man is born free but everywhere found in chains ", but if I can expend it then those who had been in chains long enough becomes institutionalized , they became dependent on chains to profit from game or also chains become part of their life and they scared of freedom ; As its fear of unknown.
What Wikileaks unleashed is that fear of unknown; fear of unknown power which people could have , fear of unknown control over those in power elite , fear of unknown new society which could crumble structure of elite withstood so long.
Redefining Freedom
"With great power comes great responsibility" said our Spidy , and when even poor Spidy could not handle that responsibility will mortal like Clinton's can? The best way is to relieve them from this great responsibility ; by taking away the great power they have !!
If power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely ; best is to eliminate that power ; the world has become a greater place by reliving kings & monarchs of absolute power they enjoyed even though not all kings were not tyrants ; we still deserve a better world and not a sugarcoated version Orwellian 1984 & only way to ensure that absolute power , no one ever ever accumulates is by more n more Wikileaks. Its time to refine freedom, and its must be freedom to disseminate the power. Freedom to have open society and freedom to choose what kind of society we need.
If Abraham Lincoln were to be alive today he would said democracy is government of the people by the people for the people and also where people have power to know. The guys who are asking for assassination of Assanage belongs to same bunch of pseudo-democrats who assassinated Lincoln , They were after an idea that challenged established barrel of power. Today its criminal to think about those who killed Lincoln by justifying slavery & ranging civil war ; But look again, those around you trying to kill Wikileaks because they know the power of what it represents!
ANYone who has ever pushed the freedom envelope has been vilified but that has always turning point in human evolution and make no mistake its that threshold which if captures critical mass will change everything . The history of mankind is full blood & toil,fights, wars , death agony and pain all for but one thing; Freedom or the idea of Freedom, and its still worth fighting for.Now its for freedom to seek and know truth; even if its just an idea , its still worth it!
Make no mistake if Wikileaks were to die then coming generations' will look with disgust over cowardice n short-sightedness of this generation. For in long haul future will say, we have an opportunity to destroy "Iron Curtain" & create that "Nation which last 1000 yrs"! Its idea of Freedom which is at stake here in long term & so is idea of an Ethical Society!!!...and whether we deserve it or not.....
Wikileaks -Greatest thing to humanity since Project Gutenberg
When in the year 2000 AD at the dawn of new millennium Discovery channel set on to find the most influential person of last millennium the list of nominees were impressive. From Joan-o- Arc to Galileo, Newton, Einstein to Lincoln , JFK , Washington , Russo to James Watt to every single great mind that was born in last 1000 years. But the honor went to an seemingly ordinary German chap Gutenberg! Yes, the same guy who printed first book by inventing printing machine. His discovery could have been most simple amongst everything that followed ,in fact not even scientifically ground breaking ;but it was one step of courage which freed the knowledge and caused flood of information and everything that was followed after it changed course of humanity. Be it Industrial revolution or French revolution, Be it Galileo or Newton or Einstein or be it Democracy or Globalization everything was ripple effect of that one simple step to free the knowledge and information to ordinary folks by printing books.
And that was only the beginning of a tide of print that has been rising ever since. We can hardly imagine a world without an abundance of printed matter, and thus we take for granted an invention that produced astonishing consequences. The dissemination of the writings of Greek and Roman authors led to a revival of the classical learning that spurred the Renaissance. Printed religious texts put the word of God directly into the hands of lay readers. Such personal contacts helped fuel the Protestant Reformation and challenging Church's authority over state.
Before print, the ability to read was useful mainly to the elite and the trained scribes who handled their affairs. Affordable books made literacy a crucial skill and an unprecedented means of social advancement to those who acquired it. Established hierarchies began to crumble and monarchy was challenged for first time in over 2000 years. But most important of all, printing proved to be the greatest extension of human consciousness ever created. It isn't over: the 500-year-old information revolution continues on the internet.
Today it would be interesting to look at typical reaction at that point;and reaction was similar to that of Wikileaks; that it will lead to chaos in society, that ordinary folks don't deserve to know so much; too much power for masses; that elite are better gifted and suited to rule the world ,that people don't need this information and most crazily that creation of free & open society is blasphemy and will destroy God!!.(I guess they meant Church). Well reaction became militant after Galileo published his book exposing stupidity of Church and Vatican reacted angrily by putting him in Jail ;even though records show that it was done not for his theory(as Copernicus already published theory) ; but for fear of others getting infected by idea of open knowledge that idea itself was scary to those in power.
What hell all this has to do with Wikileaks? Because Wikileaks unleashed a tsunami of open knowledge and information not seen since then. And the baffling of world governments asking for Julian Assange's head is on exact same lines as Church trying to do by gagging up Galileo. Both of them were after same thing,if people find out what the truth is they will lose the power they have, the imperative part of ruling the masses is keeping them ignorant from reality and creating some kind of matrix around them shielding from reality and this matrix is broken first by the man who invented ability to write thereby creating a society which can pass on and accumulate knowledge to future generation , second version of Neo has to be Gutenberg who unleashed spread of this info and knowledge to masses , but despite this the power coronations remained strictly confined to few till this date. The power corridors are like dark side moon ;doesn't exist for those who cant see it . Its need break that matrix again to see what was invisible so far.
JFK on idea of Open Society and why we deserve one!
That Wikileaks is the greatest phenomenon since the Internet or Google , even Hillary will concede; while many people may or may not realize the impact and significance of it as this point , this is the much needed ladder of social evolution and will have an extremely deep impact in the world we live. There is a phrase in circulation called BG meaning Before Google , implying how the people were living in dark ages before the information became available on internet. It created a globalized society , an irreversible personal evolution. But while we may have evolved from dark ages wrt our personal information , the society at large specially government power cartels are still behind the thickests of iron curtain.
There is no way for ordinary men & woman and society at large to know how corporates work, how government works or wars are being carried out , how laws are made and broken and bend and remade; how international diplomacy gives birth to Bin Laden in 80s, how JFK was killed and everything else ; and that's why the charter of Wikileaks is so incredibly phenomenal ; they stand for creating a informed people , open government and open society. We cant be running our society in 21st century same as way as 200 yrs back of Industrial evolution era but just digitized with same veil of secrecy,censorship and codified silence. We deserve Open Society and Wikileaks hopefully if not killed will fulfill JFK's dream of destroying closed societies.
Anyone remembers JFK's famous speech on how the governments work ? Make no mistake it was the intent of this speech to create a open society that made everyone within establishment too nervous with JFK. Looking at reaction of US govt to Wikileaks and Assange today, it seems no surprise how establishment would have been shocked some 50 yrs back. Its worth reading JFK comments again on closed society specially in light of Wikileaks controversy."For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know."
Those in US calling Julian Assange a terrorist would end up branding JFK as mastermind of terrorist organization by same logic.
There are lots of questions raised about Wikileaks endangering lives and how it could jeopardize so many things ; but what they don't understand that its the repercussions of living in s closed society! Would Wikileaks have grossed headlines if Afgan and Iraq war casualties figure wont be suppressed? If mistakes as they were being opend to scrutiny as they are not? Or if target of wikileaks was China ? then maybe Assange would have got Nobel Prize by now!
The questions run far more deeper and sinister than just the issues handled so far by Wikileaks and whats most appalling is the attitude of those who are in power. They hinges on the very idea of aristocratic medieval society meant to be controlled and run by those who are wiser enough to make decisions , the decisions to be kept in dark from stupid and ignorant masses.
In a democratic society there has to be place for mistakes not conspiracies , for strategies not deceit , for delayed information but not for suppressed information and must be favoring by default the individual freedom & choice and not mass hysteria & secrecy.
Richard Dawkins theory for Social Darwinism and Impact of Wikileaks on it
From his famous book "The Selfish Gene" Richard Dawkins elaborates the complex phenomena of theory of social behavior, has examined this issue throughout his whole career and focused in documentary; The Genius of Charles Darwin and Nice Guys Finish First.
The concept of "Reciprocal Altruism" is a central theme of this theory. Dawkins also examines the tragedy of the commons and the dilemma that it presents. The theory illustrates society as series of choices made by subjects under "Prisoners Dilemma". In simple form it means if two subjects cooperates both stands to gain handsomely but if either of them cheats then the one who cooperates loses badly ;so if one cheats next one has to cheat in order to survive.
Dawkins explains further thus that society made of mainly of cheaters and suckers ; as in cheaters who get their job done stands to gain ; while those who cooperates ends up as suckers. In simple words in a society where initial condition is of defection or cheat good guys will end up last while bad guys finish first. But there is more serious consequence of this theory and that is society as a whole stand to loose , as maximum gain possible under Prisoner's dilemma is when all subjects cooperates with each other never realizes in practice. Thus both people and society as a whole remains below their true potential.
What it elaborates is that society by default if based on deceit and secrecy will create offspring's which are corrupt. So as Julian says it puts a tax on being honest in an dishonest world. To put it simply, if everyone is getting defense contracts by bribing ; a honest contractor doesn't stand a chance. Or if everyone is breaking traffic rules then one following traffic rule will meet with an accident. Want a practical demo? Come to India to see it! The repercussions on larger scale are more sinister.
So the system where industries like oil are based upon flouting env norms and orchestrating war; can a honest business ever dream of entering a oil business?, Where international diplomacy is based on double speak by promoting dictatorship and terrorists outside ; like Osama Bin Laden was supported covertly & grown by US in cold war era or a relationship based on lies n manipulation ; all of it end up subsiding bad guys at the cost of good guys; worse in the long run it never pays . Look what Osama bin Laden led to 9/11 attacks or crony capitalism of 90s led to economic recession of today. So if you are trying to do a business where cheaters are making money , you will need to resort to it in order to survive in business or be more profitable than them; if a senseless violence is reality you will need resort to violence in retaliation even if you are peace loving person or nation. But larger question remains is there any permanent solution to this problem? Cant we change this sinister and vicious cycle? Is there a exist a solution to "Prisoner's dilemma"?
Well a system implicitly based on transparency not only favors honest guys it also rewards society at large by having collateral effect of keeping cheaters and defectors being reduced to margins over time. This is not my hypothesis but a derivation of theory of Dawkins' on social evolution.
The algorithm explained below by Dawkins in his theory illustrates most practical ladder of social evolution. Fourteen academics as well as experts in game theory submitted their own computer programs to compete in a tournament to see who would win in the Prisoner's Dilemma. The winner was "Tit for Tat" algorithm. A program which is based on "equal retaliation" and Dawkins illustrates the four conditions of "tit for tat".
1. Unless provoked, the agent/subject/person will always cooperate.
2. If provoked, the agent will retaliate.
3. The agent is quick to forgive.
4. The agent must have a good chance of competing against the opponent more than once.
In a second trial, this time of over sixty applicants "tit for tat" won again. So "Initial niceness" is a conclusion that Richard Dawkins drew from this study and other research for effective cooperation which led him to believe that in fact, "Nice guys finish first." This is in extension of larger theory that are selfish by nature & only fittest survives.
The practical issue in having such society where "Nice guys finish first" algorithm can succeed; is society where bad guys are not already in power. It needs transparency , freedom to foster first cooperative move, if cheated by anyone then ability to retaliate and return to initial conditions of cooperation.Sounds idealistic? Not really.
Imagine the world based on cooperation and not defection. Where if a commander knows war-logs is gonna make public , will think 100 times before justifying or indulging in collateral damage of civilians' killings. If industries knows their inner workings are gonna get publish with internal emails and how bids are made & contracts are secured that will put a ethical tax on those following unfair practices. If diplomacy cables are going to made public ,they are less likely to indulge in covert wars and taking help of fringe groups like Al-Quada in Cold war or indulge in doublespeak. Lets get it clear to those who justifies breaking a law , as it cant be an excuse for anything as it ends up penalizing those who follows the law.
What Wikileaks unleashed is an element with potential to create that initial conditions of step1 where people will choose to cooperate than defect initially as their selfish interest will lie in being seen as fair in a transparent and open society. Whether need of being seen as fair will actually make them fair or not is need to tested but it will prevent those who resort to defection not by choice but by rather by lack of it. Thus a Wikileaks ends up as a leveling gear with fear and incentive both at same time against those who unwillingly resort to cheating .It will keep at check those who defects thereby allowing system to forgive and return to initial conditions as in step 3 . The cheaters and defectors will still remain but as theory explains given a a large set of iterations it will be reduced to margins. It thus has potential for exponential effect to social evolution where "Nice Guys Finish First".
A free , fair , transparent ,open & ethical society; all of those out there who believes we deserve such a society ; For this reason need to support Wikileaks. The philosophy of Wikileaks needs far more support looking at long haul than short term consideration . Its the philosophy which can unlock the untapped unexplored potential of society in long run. Warren Buffet famously said great nation is not created by smartest minds but by unlocking human potential of every individual.
Why Many have chosen to keep silence on Wikileaks ?
Anyone who opposes Wikileaks does it because they have long been part of system which is build on dog eat dog mentality. Lived on deceit for so long that they cant bear the truth. Sure there is gonna be collateral damage , much like it was when church as institution was collapsed or when slavery was abolished or when royalty had to give it's way. But apart from those who have vested interest everyone else benefited in long haul. Wikileaks too needs support looking at long term possible impact
A lot of crap has been going around differentiating between peoples 'right to know' vs 'need to know'. Does people need to know how war carried out? or diplomacy works? ; even if may have right to know it as its not in national interest. This argument is as crap as justification of slavery at height of civil war ; They said "slaves may have right to equality but in larger interest of nation its not prudent to risk sovereignty for Utopian ideal like equality". Its hardly surprising that US which choose to fight over "right to keep slavery alive" is today gunning for Assange's head; he may be a criminal but asking for his assassination? It only shows the psyche of ruling elite who wanna control the masses and instrument of control is iron curtain drawn from diplomacy to business to war to politics.
Some of the conservatives will oppose that Wikileaks because they have been institutionalized , they have given up on idea of honest society as a fairytale and accepted corruption and power games as way of life under pretext of practicality. Just as Russo -great French philosopher had said, "Man is born free but everywhere found in chains ", but if I can expend it then those who had been in chains long enough becomes institutionalized , they became dependent on chains to profit from game or also chains become part of their life and they scared of freedom ; As its fear of unknown.
What Wikileaks unleashed is that fear of unknown; fear of unknown power which people could have , fear of unknown control over those in power elite , fear of unknown new society which could crumble structure of elite withstood so long.
Redefining Freedom
"With great power comes great responsibility" said our Spidy , and when even poor Spidy could not handle that responsibility will mortal like Clinton's can? The best way is to relieve them from this great responsibility ; by taking away the great power they have !!
If power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely ; best is to eliminate that power ; the world has become a greater place by reliving kings & monarchs of absolute power they enjoyed even though not all kings were not tyrants ; we still deserve a better world and not a sugarcoated version Orwellian 1984 & only way to ensure that absolute power , no one ever ever accumulates is by more n more Wikileaks. Its time to refine freedom, and its must be freedom to disseminate the power. Freedom to have open society and freedom to choose what kind of society we need.
If Abraham Lincoln were to be alive today he would said democracy is government of the people by the people for the people and also where people have power to know. The guys who are asking for assassination of Assanage belongs to same bunch of pseudo-democrats who assassinated Lincoln , They were after an idea that challenged established barrel of power. Today its criminal to think about those who killed Lincoln by justifying slavery & ranging civil war ; But look again, those around you trying to kill Wikileaks because they know the power of what it represents!
ANYone who has ever pushed the freedom envelope has been vilified but that has always turning point in human evolution and make no mistake its that threshold which if captures critical mass will change everything . The history of mankind is full blood & toil,fights, wars , death agony and pain all for but one thing; Freedom or the idea of Freedom, and its still worth fighting for.Now its for freedom to seek and know truth; even if its just an idea , its still worth it!
Make no mistake if Wikileaks were to die then coming generations' will look with disgust over cowardice n short-sightedness of this generation. For in long haul future will say, we have an opportunity to destroy "Iron Curtain" & create that "Nation which last 1000 yrs"! Its idea of Freedom which is at stake here in long term & so is idea of an Ethical Society!!!...and whether we deserve it or not.....
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