What Are We Building Here? Software Ethics in a Time of SurveillanceAndrew C. Stone, stone.com pdf
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For example, in the financial industry, the flash-trading has created a mechanism which is constantly siphoning off capital from the global markets. The bigger the servers and the closer to the long lines building, the faster it can trade. And it's concentrating the wealth into fewer and fewer hands. Although a small fee for each trade could be levied and thus dis-incentivize flash-trading, nowhere to be found is the political will to push such a fix through.

Another core assumption we should challenge is the reality of money. Originally, and quite effectively, money was simply a medium of exchange. But it is our faith and belief in the power of money that gives it its significance and dominance in our lifes, affecting our decisions and creating limitations. Money is simply an abstract construct with inordinate power over us. However, due to money's abstract nature, one can simply reorient one's attitude and relationship with it, to change the power it has over us as individuals. But to change the entire system is a different matter.

The mechanisms that allow 85 people to have more money than the poorest 3.5 billion of the population are simply unsustainable. At what point will people realize that the game is so rigged, that the only way out is to adopt another currency - like bitcoin or barter? With the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and the McCutcheon Unlimited Campaign Finance decision, there is now no limit to how these 85 people can create policies that benefit the few at the expense of the many.


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