其他2017web.mit.edu
为什么苏联没有建成全国性计算机网络 (2008)
Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer network (2008)
进阶 · 约 55 分钟读完前置知识：苏联/冷战历史、计算机网络基础、科技史
导读
这篇论文考察苏联为何没有建成全国性计算机网络，强调看似技术性的方案背后的政治维度、信息与权力的关系，以及计算机技术使用者的角色。作者通过历史分析说明，信息传播能力与政权控制之间的张力影响了此类基础设施的取舍。
HN 关注点：信息控制与政治权力如何塑造技术基础设施，以及社会主义国家网络计划（如智利 Cybersyn）的历史对照。
HN 评论精选
这几条评论里：补充 2 亲历 1
亲历亲历者认为共产主义政权因惧怕信息自由传播而不会投资全国网络。
在罗马尼亚，如果你有对讲机就会被逮捕。固定电话只安装在政权内部人员的家里，即使你只是负责管钱这种简单角色。他们在 PC 上投入了一些，但直到清楚 PC 让人容易获取信息后就停止了。所以在我看来，没有共产主义国家会投资全国网络，因为那会让信息更容易传播，从而削弱政权。让民众蒙在鼓里，他们也许会对悲惨生活感到满意。甚至接近政权的人也相信自己过得好，因为每年圣诞节前都能收到香蕉和橙子……
GoToRO查看英文原文
In Romania you would get arrested if you had a walkie-talkie. The fixed phones were installed only in the homes of people that were part of the regime (even if you had a very simple role like handling money). They invested some on PCs but only until it became clear that they allowed easy access to information. Then it was dead. So in my view no communist country would invest in a national network because that would make information easier to transmit and this would undermine the regime. Keep people in the dark and they might be happy with their misserable life. Even people closer to the regime believed they had a good life because they received bananas and oranges before every Christmas...
补充补充智利阿连德政府的 Cybersyn 项目作为社会主义国家网络计划的对照。
很多人不知道，另一个社会主义国家确实尝试过建设这样的网络：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn。这个项目可能过于雄心勃勃，而且鉴于阿连德在政变后不久自杀，它无论如何也维持不了两年以上，但它仍然相当引人入胜。
winterismute查看英文原文
Not many people know that instead another socialist country did try to build such a network: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn The project was probably overly ambitious and anyway could not last for more than 2 years given the suicide of Allende just after the coup, but it is still fairly fascinating.
补充信息技术常是权力与监管工具，信息与权力相互限制，社交网络同时分散和聚合权力。
作者关注看似技术性提案的政治维度、信息与权力的关系，以及计算机技术使用者的变革性作用。程序员如果也是商业人士，需要记住信息技术常常是权力或监管的工具。权力受信息/知识限制：你无法对一无所知的事物行使权力；对某事物了解不完整，权力也不完整（RTS 游戏里的“战争迷雾”很容易看出这一点）。这一原则在社交媒体中也很明显：信息技术既分散权力，也把权力聚合到少数人手中。创业公司通过聚合权力达成目标，创建新市场和生态既是聚合也是分散权力。因此要记住：权力会腐化，尤其是缺乏监督的任意权力；权力最好透明行使。
stcredzero查看英文原文
The author focuses on the political dimension of seemingly technical proposals, the relationship between information and power, and the transformative role of users of computer technology One of the things that programmers who are also business people need to keep in mind, is that information technology is often a tool of power or regulation. Power is limited by information/knowledge. You cannot exercise power over something that you know nothing about. If your knowledge of something is incomplete, then your power over it is also incomplete. (It is also easy to see this in RTS games, where the mechanic is called the "Fog of War.") This principle is also readily apparent in social media. Information technology was used to disperse power and put it into many hands, with widespread results in current day society. Information technology can also be used to aggregate power into fewer hands. Many forms of social media are an example of both dispersal and aggregation at the same time. Startups accomplish goals by aggregating power. Creating new markets and ecosystems is both the aggregation and dispersal of power. Exercising your right of association in such a situation is the exercise of power. It is very important, therefore, to remember that 1) power corrupts, especially arbitrary power absent oversight and therefore 2) power is best exercised transparently.
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