100 sats \ 1 reply \ @elvismercury 18 Jan \ parent \ on: How To Vanish privacy
I think literally it's kind of ridiculous, but metaphorically is quite interesting.
You might consider a realization of 'keeping secret' as an impermeable (or maybe semi-permeable) boundary -- you control what gets out. And from that perspective, the integrity of boundaries is what makes physical (or ideological) integrity possible: within this boundary is me; outside of this boundary is not me.
This is literally the case from a cellular / physiological perspective, although even there, if you zoom in, you see an incredible dance, where blurring the line between me and not me is what makes life possible. Certainly, at a higher level, it's what makes life interesting.
If we erase this distinction, what's left? Only entropy.
This is a good guess. Secrets are a boundary, but they lost me by calling secrets the boundary.
Even when taken to the extreme of someone knowing every configuration of every relevant atom of the past, present, and future universe, I struggle to see how I'd lose my sense of self. I'd be even more self-conscious, hyper aware of how I might be distinguishing myself, but that's the exact opposite of what they're saying. Unless, self-consciousness is a source of conformity, but I think the inverse is true.
reply