The Argument for Industrial Strength Computer Science

 

The Fate of AI Society argues a fundamental change to the binary computer. Instead of centralizing power, which threatens democracy and individual rights must be protected by distributing power through private tokens.

1. The binary computer centralizes power through proprietary Operating Systems that convert shared binary memory space into logical software applications. This centralization is avoided by distributing power incrementally as in mathematical science using symbolic tokens owned privately by individual software functions
2. Digital Rights and Privacy are a fundamental right in democratic society that must be preserved by computer science. The absence of individual rights in binary cyberspace is the critical problem leading to the digital dictatorship of any society that depends on information in digital cyberspace.
3. Democracy avoids Digital Dictatorship by preserving freedom, equality, privacy as independent, inherent properties engineered and owned by every citizen user.
4. Binary computers are digital dictatorships subjects of the "superuser architecture". The hierarchical, authoritarian structure of software that suppresses digital rights in cyberspace. As software controls every form of automation the inherently centralized nature also suppresses human rights.
5. The growing influence of centralized cyberspace existentially threatens democratic society

 

The book is a critique of modern computing infrastructure, arguing that its inherently threatens democratic values and individual rights. It draws a direct parallel between computer architecture and political systems, suggesting that the hierarchical nature of computing systems (particularly the superuser model and the proprietary operating systems) mirror dictatorial power structures. The author sees digital privacy as a fundamental right that is missing in binary computers, and this absence is a critical threat to democratic survival. Moreover as digital systems become more integrated into daily life, they increasingly undermine the very foundations of democratic society by limiting individual freedom and autonomy as they add proprietary checks to prevent enemy and criminal attacks.

This analysis reveals a deep concern about the relationship between technological architecture and the future of political freedom, because that the current structure of binary computers are fundamentally incompatible with democratic ideals expected by the citizens of the Information Age.