>>And after all is said and done, we will end up governed, not by the government we elect, but by the power of the monopolies we did not elect. It's happening all around us already. If there is no protection for small start-up companies, it will just accellerate. When we're all living under the thumb of one huge mega-company, I wonder if we will look back on this and wish the government had played a role in protecting us.
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>>Shades of Richard Morgan (from an interview):
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>>"Society is, always has been and always will be a structure for the exploitation and oppression of the majority through systems of political force dictated by an élite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a willful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the very majority whom the system oppresses."
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>As much as I enjoyed both Altered Carbon and Broken Angels I am not quite so glum about our future prospects.
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>There has never been a time when small startup companies were protected. There has never been a time when wealth and power did not mean a greater say in how the game is played.

But there was a time when a startup could get under the radar long enough to establish itself. Now the predators have far better information on who's doing what.

>I very much like the effect the computer has had on power distribution. Immense power of information and distribution that formerly did not even belong to the most powerful government or corporation. Much as the printing press broke the power of Rome and the Maxim gun changed warfare.

I would agree with you if the camps weren't so sharply delineated and abominably close minded. You've seen it yourself here. Somebody posts a pointer to a blog or whatever, and it's inevitably, "Agh. Thats just some stupid [right/left] (choose one) wing nutcase spouting biased crap."

Information is only useful if it is absorbed.

>I am not sure from what the government can "protect" us.The most important thing that came out of the English enlightenment was the cynical view of mankind that insisted all power be counterbalanced, rather than insisting "the good" would rule.
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And is it? Personally, I'd say, "Yeah, right."

>And who protects us from the government? It is not a new question. Juvenal asked "Sed quis custodiet ipsos custdodes?" - But who will watch the watchers?

The hardest question of all. But is lacking a good answer to that a good reason for doing nothing?