Woz Compares the Cloud and PRISM To Communist Russia 549
An anonymous reader writes "Some journalists ran into Steve Wozniak at the airport and asked him about iOS 7 and PRISM, where he made an interesting comparison about how the US is becoming what it once feared most. In communist Russia 'you couldn't own anything, and now in the digital world you hardly own anything anymore (YouTube video). You've got subscritpions and you already said ok, ok, agree and you agree that every right in the world belongs to them and you got no rights and anything you put in the cloud, you don't even know,' says Woz. 'Ownership was what made America different than Russia.'"
Re:Rant against the cloud on youtube? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:There's something we'll always own. (Score:5, Informative)
Apparently SCOTUS just ruled that you can't patent 'natural' DNA.
Re:As usual, Woz proves to be the guy who knows. (Score:5, Informative)
I suspect that the USSR was never so different from the way we were then as the propagandists would have us believe.
The people I know who lived under the Soviet regime vehemently disagree with such revisionism. For all its flaws and mistakes the U.S. was nothing like the Soviets, not even close, not even now.
Re:digital take over (Score:5, Informative)
Re:FIrst Post Maybe? (Score:5, Informative)
Communism in it's purist form as visioned by Karl Marx has never been implemented; he never really explained it either. But the way I read it, everyone would be equal; no rich, no poor and we all share things -- kind of like Open Source. It's actually not a bad thing if you like the Star Trek way of working not for money, but to better Humanity. It goes back to our Cave Man roots in a way.
But society has beat it into all of your heads that it's evil and wrong, which in the way the Soviet Union had implemented it -- It is. But like I said, it's never been implemented in it's true form and the Rich and Poor are too dug in to ever enact it. It's unfortunate because I wouldn't mind being truly equal and working to better ourselves instead of money.
Re:FIrst Post Maybe? (Score:1, Informative)
It's actually not a bad thing if you like the Star Trek way of working not for money, but to better Humanity.
Star Trek was a great show, but it had some real problems with the whole idea of money. In some episodes, main characters would laugh at the idea of money itself, as if no one had any money, and then in other episodes they'd talk about how many "credits" something cost. It was one of many huge inconsistencies in the show and the whole Star Trek universe. Go to YouTube and look for "star trek mistakes"; there's a whole series of videos showing giant consistency errors in the series.
Another one is the issue of genetic engineering. In DS9, the fact that Julian Bashir was genetically engineered becomes a huge plot point, because it's apparently highly illegal and has been for a long time (presumably since the days of Khan). But then there's a 2nd-season TNG episode where the ship visits a colony where they're genetically engineering kids with super immune systems which cause a mysterious contagious illness.
They couldn't even get straight whether Troi had ever kissed Riker with a beard or not: there's a bunch of episodes where she and Riker make out (and Riker has his beard), and then in the Generations movie he kisses her and she's disgusted by his beard and acts like he's never kissed her since he grew it.
Back to communism and money: the main problem here is how do you decide who does what job, and how do you get people to actually do jobs? Everyone wants the good jobs, and no one wants the shit jobs. Who actually wants to haul garbage for a living? Or clean toilets? Lots and lots of people would prefer not to work at all if they don't have to. How do you motivate people to do jobs that society needs done, but which everyone would prefer someone else do? If you give everyone the same amount of money so there's no rich or poor, you have to give them their paycheck whether they've earned it or not. If you withhold pay because they don't feel like doing the job they're assigned, then you're creating a wealth disparity, which is against the whole concept. The whole idea breaks down under just a little inspection.
Re:FIrst Post Maybe? (Score:5, Informative)
Don't confuse leaving a group with leaving a territory.
Besides, it still doesn't work in the case of the USA. Wherever you are on the planet, you still must pay income taxes (at a minimum). It's costs over $400 in fees to renounce your citizenship. You essentially must buy your freedom.
Re:As usual, Woz proves to be the guy who knows. (Score:4, Informative)
Does killing tens of millions of your own citizens in forced collectivization, forced relocations, artificial famines and camps that worked their prisoners to death count for anything?
Are you talking about American Indians?
Re:FIrst Post Maybe? (Score:5, Informative)
Communism in it's purist form as visioned by Karl Marx has never been implemented; he never really explained it either. But the way I read it, everyone would be equal; no rich, no poor and we all share things -- kind of like Open Source. It's actually not a bad thing if you like the Star Trek way of working not for money, but to better Humanity. It goes back to our Cave Man roots in a way.
Actually the closest implementation to Marx's vision was the Paris Commune [wikipedia.org] that formed in the power vacuum of the early 1870s after the Prussians captured Napoleon III. After losing what was basically a mini-civil war to the Versailles government forces, everyone that was running the Commune was lined up against a wall & executed.
Re:Russia? Please... they were amateurs. (Score:3, Informative)
"Many groups were suppressed before and during the 2012 election by the IRS targeting"
Do you hear yourself? Political groups are not supposed to be tax exempt. That is what the IRS was looking for: "Is this 501c4 application for a civic group or a political group?" You say that these groups couldn't engage in political activity because of the IRS investigation. That means you are saying they are political groups, not civic groups, and therefore should not have received tax exempt status.
I'm not saying the IRS didn't make very serious mistakes: they did. But your claim that it effected the election is by definition off point.
Re:As usual, Woz proves to be the guy who knows. (Score:4, Informative)
Let's hope that always stays true.
Have you read the recent press reports about reporters phones being tapped en masse by the Obama Administration and reporters threatened for reporting on certain stories? Sen. Peter King (NY), known supporter of terrorism (IRA donor), is calling for the arrest of (to hear him speak, he'd probably prefer a drone strike) Glen Greenwald.