No Justice in Virtual Space
There can never be justice as we know it in virtual space.?The justice system provides the legal foundation for ethical behavior in the physical world.?It cannot exist in virtual space.?Free will provides the foundation for our traditional justice system.?Free will does not exist in virtual space.?Virtual space is deterministic.
Virtual space is so accessible and integrated into our lives that we tend to assume many important components of life in physical space will be there as well.?Nothing could be further from the truth.?The absence of a justice system that is the legal enforcement mechanism used by democracies means virtual space will not function as a democracy.?Yet it requires governance. The form of governance in virtual space is non-democratic and authoritarian.?The controllers of virtual space establish and enforce the rules under which it operates.?
Elon Musk determines who and what organizations have access to free speech on Twitter. Facebook employed 15,000 content moderators in 2020.?These reviewers are each responsible for about 3 million messages per day. Facebook sets the rules by which they operate.
Democracies must have legal enforcement systems that treat their citizens fairly and ensures they have equal rights.?Inherent in all democratic systems is the philosophical belief citizens possess free will.?They are therefore responsible for the choices they make and their actions.?The justice system ensures the smooth functioning of society by punishing those that engage in antisocial behavior.?But there is an important loophole provided to make sure no one is punished unfairly.?
When a mental abnormality, personality disorder, or difficult circumstances make a person engage in an antisocial act, he is not held accountable for his bad choices.?Adults who were abused as children tend to be motivated to engage in antisocial activities. These adults often receive more lenient treatment or no punishment at all. Or stated in general terms, when deterministic circumstances lead to antisocial behavior, the individual is innocent.
Virtual space is a deterministic environment. When an individual takes up residence in virtual space, his behavior is programmed.?
The controllers of virtual space use mild forms of psychological addiction to control the behaviors of the residents of virtual space. They do this by studying the behaviors and interests of residents of virtual space. Once they understand the types of experiences individuals enjoy and are vitally interested in, they turn loose recommendation engines to continually present opportunities to access those experiences.?Accessing those pleasurable experiences triggers the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the user’s brain.?Users enjoy those releases and keep coming back for more.?In the process, they become psychologically addicted.
The quest for dopamine releases drives gambling addiction.?They are the reason why people cannot put down their smartphones. The pleasure provided by dopamine releases motivates them to keep searching for fascinating experiences on their phones.?
In this addictive environment, the controllers of virtual space determine the behavior of its residents.?They program the human residents to waste billions of hours in purposeless activities staring at iPhones, watching videos on YouTube, and perusing social networks.?It also helps to explain why so much time is committed to antisocial behavior such as spreading fake news and conspiracy theories.
Any resident of virtual space engaging in antisocial activity has the perfect claim for innocence—the controllers of virtual space made me do it.?In this environment, it would be impossible for a justice system to enforce any rules.?No justice system can function in virtual space.?
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Unfortunately, the problem does not end there.?If the lack of free will absolves residents of virtual space of their legal responsibility, it also absolves them of their social and personal responsibility.?
One of the drivers of human progress is our inherent desire to engage in purposeful activity. We want to do things that will earn us respect in our community, love from our family members, and fondness of our friends. We invest countless hours in raising our children so they will succeed in life and care for the parents who did so much for them.
But if our lives are determined by forces beyond our control, we are absolved of those responsibilities.?Suddenly, we are free to live in socially unproductive ways and engage in irresponsible behavior the controllers of virtual space have chosen for us.?Days will go by consumed by entertaining experiences in virtual space.
So, when you decide to live in virtual space not only do you forgo justice, but you also sacrifice your humanity.?
There is a simple solution to this problem.?Use virtual space as a tool, not an environment.?
The best analogy to illustrate the challenges humanity faces in virtual space is a refrigerator.?When used as a tool, it greatly improves the quality of our lives. It keeps our food from spoiling and improves the quality of our lives by providing us with cool drinks on a hot day.?None of us would think of using it as an environment.?We would find sitting on a refrigerator shelf in the cold dark very unappealing.
When we use virtual space as an environment, we are sitting on a virtual refrigerator shelf.?
The way to turn virtual space into a tool is to enter virtual space with specific goals such as organizing an event or answering all work emails or deciding to use it for entertainment for a specific period of time.?You do that when you watch a football game.?You watch it until the game is over.?
Virtual space is the most powerful tool ever created by humanity.?It can make our lives more enjoyable and productive.?But it can only do that if we never give up our free will.
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IT systems engineer
1 年Excellent article, I tend to think it's easier for the older generations that did not grow up with the net, to use it as a tool. I dip in and out of the internet and think of the internet purely as a tool to facilitate a goal, much like i use a car. For the younger generations they have grown up in many cases looking at a screen as if its a representation of reality when in many cases its nothing of the sort. They know how to manipulate this fake world in great detail but have forgotten in some cases that reality and cyber don't intersect in most cases. i.e. fake data or even more often just incorrect data. One disastrous attempt at linking cyber to the real world is the social credit system in China. Where they are taking supposed bad activity on the net and the real world. and assigning real world consequences to these bad activities. But to do this the government must have absolute control over every scrap of data coming in to the system and going out. I also find it very interesting that many peoples default response to just about anything from the web is that its either fake of misleading.
Professional Speaker & Healthcare Entrepreneur
1 年Another great article!!!
Writing, editing, communications consulting
1 年Great post, Bill, on a subject that doesn't get enough coverage. Thanks!