The Dwarf Lords: tiny devices, tiny minds and the new enslavement

And four centuries or so later, Lord Acton capped it with the observation that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In the wrong hands - even with benign intentions - these technologies, potentially, afford absolute power to search the lives of individuals and compel their conformity to some centrally-generated conception.

We can be reasonably certain none of the Dwarf Lords will be a statesperson or even an idealist. They will probably enjoy power for its own unalloyed delight.

Under the pretext of “keeping us safe” governments will for the first time in history have the power to watch and control each individual at almost all times.

There is no human life - not even that of Mother Theresa - that could withstand such scrutiny.

XXX

No doubt many will dismiss this as Orwellian fantasy, pointing out that 1984 didn’t come true in 1984 either. However Orwell was not writing about 1984 but rather warning of actual trends under totalitarianism in 1948. Like the Roman satirists under the Emperors he masked his critique by modifying the temporal context in which he placed it. He knew only too well the depths of human turpitude in any age, our own included.

Where Orwell’s scenario differs from mine is that his theme is based on the ultimate crime of betrayal. In the nanocracy there will be no need of traitors. We are all already betrayed by our own recorded words and deeds and associations.

And, like the observer principle in quantum physics where the mere act of observation changes the event being observed, people who know they are, or may be, under surveillance around the clock are bound to modify their natural behavior.

Let me state plainly that I do not advocate a ban or even a moratorium on nanoscience, any more that I would wish to ban physics or chemistry despite the inhuman things that can be done with them.

The problem lies not with the knowledge itself, but with how it is applied.

We have already unlocked Pandora’s nanobox, and the ills are peeping out, as well as the benefits.