As we discuss here, privacy is the property of the individual to exist in a state of personal knowledge without that knowledge being controlled or influenced by forces outside that individual. Privacy is not a state of knowledge that is necessarily unknown to others, it is simply that they have no means of utilizing that private knowledge in directing a force that affects the individual. This knowledge can be shared outside of the individual, but it cannot be acted upon.
If it were not for privacy, the system of the whole would utilize the useful knowledge of the individuals to reach a more optimal overall state. This state would be cemented in equilibrium and impervious to adaptation except for the influences of knowledge and forces entirely external to that system. In other words, the system could not self-regulate, it could only respond.
However, in systems that allow for individual privacy, adaptation can occur within the system as information is released by will of the individual at states and times of that individual's choosing. Thus a small dose of information at the proper moment might swing the system into an entirely different trajectory from which it might have ever evolved if all information was shared. The momentum of the initial change in state could see the evolution through.
In order for this form of privacy to exist within the system, the individual must be protected from influences within the system that tend towards system-wide equilibrium. In the least, freedom of conscious must be allowed to exist. The individual must be in a way sovereign to himself, but not necessarily independent of others. He must be allowed to self-organize, i.e. to think, learn, feel, and forget autonomously. So that the system of the whole might be more sensitive to learning and evolving itself, the individual must have freedom of action in addition to freedom of conscious—all while remaining interdependent on others.
It follows that such sovereignty cannot exist without a shared respect for original life, liberty, and the pursuit of "fill in the blank", whether it be happiness, industry, love, or whatever are the shared values of the system. But always, there must be respect for life. Without that, there is nothing.
If it were not for privacy, the system of the whole would utilize the useful knowledge of the individuals to reach a more optimal overall state. This state would be cemented in equilibrium and impervious to adaptation except for the influences of knowledge and forces entirely external to that system. In other words, the system could not self-regulate, it could only respond.
However, in systems that allow for individual privacy, adaptation can occur within the system as information is released by will of the individual at states and times of that individual's choosing. Thus a small dose of information at the proper moment might swing the system into an entirely different trajectory from which it might have ever evolved if all information was shared. The momentum of the initial change in state could see the evolution through.
In order for this form of privacy to exist within the system, the individual must be protected from influences within the system that tend towards system-wide equilibrium. In the least, freedom of conscious must be allowed to exist. The individual must be in a way sovereign to himself, but not necessarily independent of others. He must be allowed to self-organize, i.e. to think, learn, feel, and forget autonomously. So that the system of the whole might be more sensitive to learning and evolving itself, the individual must have freedom of action in addition to freedom of conscious—all while remaining interdependent on others.
It follows that such sovereignty cannot exist without a shared respect for original life, liberty, and the pursuit of "fill in the blank", whether it be happiness, industry, love, or whatever are the shared values of the system. But always, there must be respect for life. Without that, there is nothing.
