On Privacy, Overpopulation and Technology

I have read the articles on privacy in the April 17 issue of the Saturday Review and it seems to me that they all suffer from the same fault: They view the [crossed out] as an isolated problem rather than as an inevitable outcome of the kind of society we live in. They seem to assume that the problem has been created by [crossed out] and that it can be solved by passing a few laws and establishing “safeguards”. This out-of-date approach fails to recognize that the [crossed out] and individual liberty is a result of the fundamental changes in our society that are being brought about by overpopulation, by an [crossed out], and most of all, by technological “progress”. It is naive to imagine that the truly godlike powers that technology will put into human hands within the next few-decades [crossed out] will not be used [crossed out] for surveillance and manipulation of individuals — all “for the good of society”, of course.

There is no-hope of permanently arresting the erosion of privacy and liberty unless we attack the root causes involved. We must take vigerous measures to reverse the growth of our population and, most important, we must bring scientific progress in many areas to a halt by ceasing to provide research funds. If this can be done, there will be a realistic possibility of stopping the increase in the complexity of our social organization [crossed out] that actually makes necessary the [crossed out]. We will be sacrificing some of the materialstic benefits of technology, but there just isn’t any other way. [crossed out: We can’t just eat our cake and have it too.]

Maybe you think my views are extreme. Okay. Wait thirty years and we’ll see. But by then, of course, it will be too late to do anything about it.