I found this brief excerpt from Scheflin's _Mind Manipulators_ interesting.
It makes a distinction between objective and subjective freedom. An example
of the concept of subjective freedom is having the "freedom of speech" provided
you never use it to say anything controversial -- but thinking that you have
real freedom of speech. As long as you never tried to say anything controversial
you would go along happily thinking that you could if you wanted to.
http://home.swipnet.se/allez/Eng/Mind78.htm
[...]
Smith and Ingraham are particularly excited by the
possibility of crime control through a
combination of ESB, external monitors, tracking and
computer technology. The computer
would retaliate against the possible criminal
on the basis of probabilities, eliminating the delay
and difficulty of proving guilt to a jury beyond
a reasonable doubt...Ingraham and Smith echo
Schwitzgebel's rationale, but they add some
sophisticated or sophistic-arguments of their
own. They distinguish between "objective" freedom,
the freedom actually to do as one wishes,
and "subjective" freedom, the feeling that one is
free. Objective freedom, they conclude, is
incompatible with modern society, but subjective
freedom can be enhanced electronically:
"Subjective freedom is totally dependent on
awareness, [it] is easily realizable within the
context of an ordered society, whereas radical
objective freedom is not. Since society cannot
allow men too much objective freedom, the least
it can do (and the wise thing to do) is to so
order its affairs that men are not aware or
concerned about any lack of it. The technique of
telemetric control of human beings offers the
possibility of regulating behavior with precision
on a subconscious level, and avoiding the cruelty
of depriving man of his subjective sense of
freedom."
[...]
The concept reminds me of a poem by DC Dave, which I quote here
completely without permission:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22american+aquarium%22+martin&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=352E2A6E.7179%40erols.com&rnum=7
Fool's Paradise
Welcome to the American aquarium
Where life can be lived without care.
If you swim only in approved areas
You'll never know you're there.
But thanks to my curiosity
A strange thing came to pass:
I followed the trail of a mystery
And I discovered the glass.
DC Dave
--
Mind Control: TT&P ==> http://www.datafilter.com/mc
Allen Barker