On Monday, I went to school, volunteered at the library, and went to Irish dance class.
Tuesday, I did homework, and stuff around the house.
Wednesday, I had school, then went to Park Day, and then went back to campus later to work on a group project.
Thursday, I taught Latin, and did homework.
Friday, I had school, worked on the group project for a while, then went to hang out at a friend's house for a few hours, before going to ballet class.
Saturday, we left early for Portland, and got there close to noon. My mom went to a memorial service for a friend of her's from college, and then we all went out to dinner with some of her college friends. We stayed the night with friends in Vancouver. I had intended to do some writing while mom was at the service, but ended up playing Portal 2 instead, with the son of the friends we were staying with, who is about my age.
Sunday, we hung out with our friends for a while before heading back up north. We stopped at Seattle Children's Hospital on the way home to visit our friend there.
I finished reading Robinson Crusoe this week, and started Last of the Mohicans.
I'm at about 30k with my NaNoWriMo novel, which is 10k below where I should be at the moment. Today is my last day of school until next Monday, though, so I have high hopes for getting caught up over Thanksgiving break.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Weekend Review #15 {Veteran's Day, Pianos, and Seatle}
Here was my week:
Monday: There were not any classes at the college that day, so I stayed home and did stuff here. I went on a walk with some friends, went to the library and cleaned books, then went to dance class.
Tuesday: Mom was home since it was Veteran's Day.
Wednesday: I had classes at the college, then had lunch with my dad, and went to park day. I came back to campus later to work on a group project for my Study Skills class.
Thursday: Taught Latin in the morning, then had Current Events class at our house in the afternoon.
Friday: Had class at the college, and stayed late to work on the group project. Then I went to a friend's house for the rest of the afternoon. I was feeling really fluish and generally terrible, so I skipped ballet.
Saturday: Went to lunch at the Bagelry, then took a "behind the scenes" tour at the library. I then had a Nutcracker rehearsal for the rest of the afternoon/evening.
Sunday: We had a piano delivered in the early afternoon, and then went down to Seattle to visit Spencer at UW, and see a friend at Children's Hospital. We went to dinner with Spencer and his family (who we went down with) and the family of our friend at the hospital.
That was what I did this week. Not super exciting, but there it is. I have two books I am reading that I will review once I finish them.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Weekend Review #14 {School, Writing, Pictures}
It's been another week, and now here I am to summarize it.
Monday, I went to school, volunteered at the library, and went to dance class.
Tuesday, I did homework, and really, nothing else. It was a kind of boring day.
Wednesday, I went to school, took a test in my Study Skills class, did much better on it than I thought I would, then went to park day.
Thursday, I taught Latin and had lunch with friends, then came home and did homework for the rest of the day.
Friday, I went to school, and then went to a friend's house for the remainder of the day. I also had a ballet class, which, since the normal teacher was unavailable, was taught by one of my best friends, which was fun.
Saturday, we did a Steampunk photoshoot involving all of us who went with the Steampunk theme for our Halloween costumes. I'll post a few pictures on here at some point, if I get them. I also then had a Nutcracker rehearsal that afternoon/evening.
Sunday, I did not do too much, but went shopping for coats in the evening. I spent a lot of time hanging out and talking to friends online.
Reading: I haven't done much non-school reading this week, but for school I read Pilgrim's Progress and Robinson Crusoe, both of which I'm almost done with. I also started Mort by Terry Pratchett after it was lent to me by a friend.
Writing: We are a third of the way through November now, which means that I should be at 16,666 by the end of today. At the moment, I'm at a little above 12k, and I'm hoping to make it to 14k by the end of the day.
It's a four day weekend (Veteran's Day on Tuesday, and no classes on Monday for faculty conferences), so hopefully I can get in at least 2k today and tomorrow, which would get me at least a bit caught up.
Monday, I went to school, volunteered at the library, and went to dance class.
Tuesday, I did homework, and really, nothing else. It was a kind of boring day.
Wednesday, I went to school, took a test in my Study Skills class, did much better on it than I thought I would, then went to park day.
Thursday, I taught Latin and had lunch with friends, then came home and did homework for the rest of the day.
Friday, I went to school, and then went to a friend's house for the remainder of the day. I also had a ballet class, which, since the normal teacher was unavailable, was taught by one of my best friends, which was fun.
Saturday, we did a Steampunk photoshoot involving all of us who went with the Steampunk theme for our Halloween costumes. I'll post a few pictures on here at some point, if I get them. I also then had a Nutcracker rehearsal that afternoon/evening.
Sunday, I did not do too much, but went shopping for coats in the evening. I spent a lot of time hanging out and talking to friends online.
Reading: I haven't done much non-school reading this week, but for school I read Pilgrim's Progress and Robinson Crusoe, both of which I'm almost done with. I also started Mort by Terry Pratchett after it was lent to me by a friend.
Writing: We are a third of the way through November now, which means that I should be at 16,666 by the end of today. At the moment, I'm at a little above 12k, and I'm hoping to make it to 14k by the end of the day.
It's a four day weekend (Veteran's Day on Tuesday, and no classes on Monday for faculty conferences), so hopefully I can get in at least 2k today and tomorrow, which would get me at least a bit caught up.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Why I'm Doing NaNoWriMo
I was inspired by Ian's post today to write one of my own. He's admittedly got a much harder time this November than I do, but I just hit the slump. I know it typically doesn't hit until week 2, but I usually hit it a little early. It's the point at which I've exhausted all those fresh exciting story ideas (and now I have to actually advance the plot and add character development). It's usually the point where I get behind on my word count for the first time. Because I'm totally ripping Ian off, here are reasons I won't succeed at NaNoWriMo this year:
1. I am really busy. I have college classes, high school classes, dance, and various social events I'm too much of an extrovert to skip.
2. I have so far logged 8,173 words of the 10,000 I should have by the end of today.
3. I'm only going to get busier. As the Nutcracker and finals approach, things can only become more busy.
4. My mom's voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that I should do school before writing, and I keep listening to that voice.
Reasons why I will succeed:
1. I have a good track record. I've finished the last three years in a row, and the last two years I've finished early.
2. In 2011, I got behind on Day 4, and didn't catch up again until the 29th, on which I wrote 5,000 words. In 2012 I was behind from the 7th to the 27th, and in 2013 I was again behind from the 4th through the 29th. I have a pretty good track record with catching up. Speaking of past years, on the sixth I had 7195 words one year. At least I'm doing better than that.
4. I've told a lot of people that I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, and I can't tell them I failed.
5. I simply can't fail this year. Each year is going to be more challenging than the one before it, but I am determined to continue doing NaNoWriMo.
What are your reasons you're going to fail and succeed at NaNoWriMo this year?
1. I am really busy. I have college classes, high school classes, dance, and various social events I'm too much of an extrovert to skip.
2. I have so far logged 8,173 words of the 10,000 I should have by the end of today.
3. I'm only going to get busier. As the Nutcracker and finals approach, things can only become more busy.
4. My mom's voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that I should do school before writing, and I keep listening to that voice.
Reasons why I will succeed:
1. I have a good track record. I've finished the last three years in a row, and the last two years I've finished early.
2. In 2011, I got behind on Day 4, and didn't catch up again until the 29th, on which I wrote 5,000 words. In 2012 I was behind from the 7th to the 27th, and in 2013 I was again behind from the 4th through the 29th. I have a pretty good track record with catching up. Speaking of past years, on the sixth I had 7195 words one year. At least I'm doing better than that.
4. I've told a lot of people that I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, and I can't tell them I failed.
5. I simply can't fail this year. Each year is going to be more challenging than the one before it, but I am determined to continue doing NaNoWriMo.
What are your reasons you're going to fail and succeed at NaNoWriMo this year?
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Weekend Review #12 and #13 {Dracula, Steampunk, and NaNoWriMo}
I missed last week, so I'm just going to combine the two into one post.
Last week was very busy with school, and Dracula. We had performances Saturday and Sunday, and then the show was officially over. I had a test in my Study Skills class, went to the Dracula cast party, and probably did lots of other fascinating stuff that I actually can not remember anymore.
On Monday, I had classes at the college, volunteered at the library, and then went to dance. It was my sister's 13th birthday, so we came home and had cake.
Tuesday, I did homework and went out to lunch with my grandparents.
Wednesday was school, and park day.
Thursday I taught Latin, and then we hosted a Current Events class at our house.
Friday was Halloween, so I went to a friend's house to help my sister and her friends finish making their costumes, and then went to the trick-or-treating event downtown with them. After that, we all went to a party at a friend's house. We had an awesome time there, and did not end up leaving until after midnight.
Saturday I had a meeting of the YA review committee at Village Books, our local independent bookstore, and then a Nutcracker rehearsal for most of the afternoon. It was also the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I actually did manage to get in time to write 1667 words.
Sunday, we went to our other grandparent's house for dinner.
It's been a long few weeks, and I don't think it's going to get any easier any time soon. Dracula may be over, but now there is NaNoWriMo to contend with, plus general stuff with my friends that have been coming up lately.
Speaking of my novel, I am (as of Tuesday morning) at 5,018 words, which is exactly on track. I usually like to get ahead a little in the early part of the month, to give myself a little leeway around Thanksgiving, but that's probably not going to happen this year. I do have a long weekend for Veteran's Day, and an even longer one for Thanksgiving, though, so hopefully I can get ahead a little on those days when I don't have college classes to be at.
Last week was very busy with school, and Dracula. We had performances Saturday and Sunday, and then the show was officially over. I had a test in my Study Skills class, went to the Dracula cast party, and probably did lots of other fascinating stuff that I actually can not remember anymore.
On Monday, I had classes at the college, volunteered at the library, and then went to dance. It was my sister's 13th birthday, so we came home and had cake.
Tuesday, I did homework and went out to lunch with my grandparents.
Wednesday was school, and park day.
Thursday I taught Latin, and then we hosted a Current Events class at our house.
Friday was Halloween, so I went to a friend's house to help my sister and her friends finish making their costumes, and then went to the trick-or-treating event downtown with them. After that, we all went to a party at a friend's house. We had an awesome time there, and did not end up leaving until after midnight.
 |
| A Steampunk Halloween |
Saturday I had a meeting of the YA review committee at Village Books, our local independent bookstore, and then a Nutcracker rehearsal for most of the afternoon. It was also the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I actually did manage to get in time to write 1667 words.
Sunday, we went to our other grandparent's house for dinner.
It's been a long few weeks, and I don't think it's going to get any easier any time soon. Dracula may be over, but now there is NaNoWriMo to contend with, plus general stuff with my friends that have been coming up lately.
Speaking of my novel, I am (as of Tuesday morning) at 5,018 words, which is exactly on track. I usually like to get ahead a little in the early part of the month, to give myself a little leeway around Thanksgiving, but that's probably not going to happen this year. I do have a long weekend for Veteran's Day, and an even longer one for Thanksgiving, though, so hopefully I can get ahead a little on those days when I don't have college classes to be at.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Weekend Review #11 {Dracula, PSAT, and Current Events}
I know I have said this a lot recently, but it's been a super crazy week. Actually, today I woke up really tired, and feeling sick. I think I'm kind of crashing after this week, but I need to tell my body it can't do that yet, since I have another busy week ahead.
Monday, I had school, I volunteered at the library, had a short Nutcracker rehearsal, and Irish dance class.
On Tuesday, almost nothing happened (amazing!). Some friends of my sister's came over in the afternoon, but other than that I just did homework.
Wednesday was the PSAT in the morning. I missed one class at the college, and barely made it in time for the second, which I had a midterm in. After that was park day.
Thursday, I taught Latin in the morning. We had the first current events class of the year at our house in the afternoon, and then I had a make-up driver's ed class.
Friday, I had class in the morning, then stayed on campus to study for a test in my study skills class, and hang out with some friends. Then I met up downtown with a friend who is home visiting from college. It was great to catch up with her. Then, because that wasn't a long enough day, I had a ballet class.
Saturday, we left at about 10:30 in the morning to get food for lunch and dinner, then went to pick up two other ballet friends. Then we drove 30 min. to the theater we were performing at that night. By the time we got there, it was about noon. We had a ballet class, a dress rehearsal, a break for dinner, a warm up, and then the actual performance. Despite a few issues, the whole thing went very well. By the time the show was over and I got home, it was about 10:45pm. The first performance of Dracula went well, but it was a really long day.
Sunday, I didn't do much all day except hang out with some friends who came over for a few hours. I spent a lot of time talking to friends online, and did a little homework that was due on Monday.
Today, like I said, I'm kind of crashing. I have a similar week ahead of me though, with Dracula performances both Saturday and Sunday.
Monday, I had school, I volunteered at the library, had a short Nutcracker rehearsal, and Irish dance class.
On Tuesday, almost nothing happened (amazing!). Some friends of my sister's came over in the afternoon, but other than that I just did homework.
Wednesday was the PSAT in the morning. I missed one class at the college, and barely made it in time for the second, which I had a midterm in. After that was park day.
Thursday, I taught Latin in the morning. We had the first current events class of the year at our house in the afternoon, and then I had a make-up driver's ed class.
Friday, I had class in the morning, then stayed on campus to study for a test in my study skills class, and hang out with some friends. Then I met up downtown with a friend who is home visiting from college. It was great to catch up with her. Then, because that wasn't a long enough day, I had a ballet class.
Saturday, we left at about 10:30 in the morning to get food for lunch and dinner, then went to pick up two other ballet friends. Then we drove 30 min. to the theater we were performing at that night. By the time we got there, it was about noon. We had a ballet class, a dress rehearsal, a break for dinner, a warm up, and then the actual performance. Despite a few issues, the whole thing went very well. By the time the show was over and I got home, it was about 10:45pm. The first performance of Dracula went well, but it was a really long day.
Sunday, I didn't do much all day except hang out with some friends who came over for a few hours. I spent a lot of time talking to friends online, and did a little homework that was due on Monday.
Today, like I said, I'm kind of crashing. I have a similar week ahead of me though, with Dracula performances both Saturday and Sunday.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Daemon and Freedom {A Literature Analysis}
A few weeks ago, I reviewed the books Daemon and Freedom, by Daniel Suarez. Since then, I've been exchanging emails back and forth with Spencer, a homeschool friend, who has gone to college in Seattle this fall. I was reading over this email conversation about these books, and I really wanted to share them with you. I love how we both came at this from pretty different perspectives (and if you know Spencer and I, and the topic at hand pretty well, you might be able to guess how this conversation went), but we ended up at a shared conclusion. But a huge warning: This conversation discusses the END of the book Freedom, and contains massive spoilers for both books. Continue at your own risk. If you have read the book, please continue reading, and feel free to continue this conversation in the comments!
It all started when Spencer sent me a comment on my blog, asking me how I had personally answered the question I had mentioned in my review of Freedom: "But in Freedom, it is suddenly a question that you have to answer for yourselves. " (whether the Daemon is evil or good).
My response: WARNING: Below you will find a somewhat rambling, stream of consciousness style answer to your question. :) I am also very curious to hear what your opinion on the matter is, and what you think of my answer to it.
I'm not really sure. At the end of the story, they needed it, because they were no longer able to function without it, but they also would have never gotten into that giant mess in the first place if not for it's presence. I think they were, in many ways, better off because of the Daemon and the Darknet, but the considering the tremendous loss of life that it took to get there, I'm not sure if I would say it was worth it. Really, I think that the Daemon itself can't be good or evil. It's not a sentient being, and can't have good or bad intentions.
What I think really matters is the intentions of it's creator, Matthew Sobol. In the end, he seemed to have good intentions. He created a system that punished wrongdoers, and supported the grassroots community. Maybe what he realized was that the only way to get to that point was to force people to accept that they needed such a drastic change, which the Daemon did force them to do.
But, one major question still remains: was the loss of human life that it took to get to that endpoint worth it? I personally tend to value intention over actions, which forces me towards the conclusion that Sobol's Daemon was in the end a good creation. Of course, Sobol knew when he created the Daemon that he wouldn't ever have to live in a world where it was in control, so why should he care about the process, if the outcome was satisfactory.
So, really, I'm not sure. I would lean towards saying that it was good, but it's hard to say for sure, not knowing what a world without the Daemon would have looked like.
Spencer: WARNING: Here thar be a long, rambling pontification which is worse than unstructured, in that it is structured poorly :)
Hmm. I'm a utilitarian, so the outcome (total outcome: I do factor in the various bad things and loss of life that the Daemon caused in order to establish itself in the "outcome" of the decision to create the Daemon) is my main consideration. Whether Sobol's intentions were good (I agree that they were) and whether the Daemon itself could be said to have intentions (I agree that it cannot) aren't as important to me.
Although I have the same feeling that you do that Sobol's good intentions at least partially justified his decision. If you want to put yourself in a position where you pass the least judgment on others' decisions, you have to approve the decisions that are well-intentioned, since that way you affirm the decision-maker's ability to decide what is good and what will work. Let 'em do whatever they want so long as they're not evil-intentioned. Does that make any sense?
But back to the Daemon. The total outcome is what matters in my opinion. So what do I think of the total outcome?
Assuming that the Daemon's new government is stable enough to last for a long time, the loss of life seems fairly negligible. I mean, compared to either of the world wars I'm guessing the total death toll is relatively small, because the Daemon pitted forces against focused targets rather than pitting entire nations against each other. I could be off on this though, since it's been a long time since I've read Daemon.
So I would argue that if the state of the world is significantly better after the Daemon's takeover, then the Daemon is good. It seems like in the short term this is definitely true, even if you argue that some of the technologies the Daemon instituted would not have been implemented so flawlessly in real life. (Which you have to, because the technologies surely would not have been.) The Daemon improved the state of the world through redistribution of income (and all sorts of stuff like education), fairer and cheating-proof democracy and justice through secure, networked and constant voting, plus a system that gave everyone who wanted one a role in society. These things have little to do with technology and more to do with enforcing fairness.
It also made the world more like a game and in doing so created purpose for people who had lost a sense of purpose in real life.
Suarez also, crucially, built adaptability into the system, so that the Daemon could facilitate all sorts of other beneficial stuff and adapt to change.
However, this ability to change also represents a security risk. You raised an important point: "At the end of the story, they needed it, because they were no longer able to function without it". By removing existing political structure and forcing everyone to rely on the same infrastructure, the Daemon made the world a lot less robust. A single hacker who figured out how to game the system could cause immeasurable damage. I think Suarez would argue that infrastructure defense security people would be able to contain the damage, but if they could not and the Daemon were destroyed, the world would fall into anarchy and chaos. Or if the hacker/hacker's organization managed to turn the Daemon to their own ends fast enough to stymie the infrastructure defense people, they would essentially have unlimited power and the capacity to do all sorts of horrible things.
So in the end my evaluation of the Daemon comes down to how stable and un-game-able it turns out to be. If Suarez's argument that the people who believe in the Daemon will successfully be able to protect, update, and perpetuate it is valid, I'm all for the Daemon. But if it's hacked, the negative consequences would be enormous.
That's my take :) Looking forward to hearing what you think,
Me: I do think that you are right in saying that total outcome is more important in this particular situation. While I do highly value Sobol's good intentions, since he knew he would never actually see the Daemon in action, I don't think it's the most important factor to consider.
I also agree that long term stability (if the Daemon proved able to provide that) would negate the loss of life. I don't know what the death tolls would have been like, but it is probably true that it would have been less than many wars. While there seemed to be significant loss of life in certain area, and in certain groups of people, much of the world didn't fall into any of the target groups, and thus should have been fine.
My main problem with the entire idea is how dependent the entire world is on the Daemon at the end of the book. If they were able to function successfully without it, I think that the danger of it being hacked would be much less, because they could simply shut it down in an emergency, temporary, or, in an extreme case, forever. But because of their dependence on it, if someone did take over the system, they would be stuck in it. They could hope that, as you suggested, members of the community would be able to fix the damage, but in a worst-case scenario, they would have no way to "get away" from the Daemon, without causing mass chaos, which might arguably be worse than whatever damage the hacker caused.
I am leaning toward saying the Daemon is a good thing, though I think in the end, it defies any such simplistic categories. There is so much more information I would want before making a true analysis, but since that information was not available, I think that, considering just the information provided, I will say that the Daemon is good. Granted, it's risky, and there are plenty of possible issues, but I think that given what we have seen the Darknet community achieve in the past, and looking at the the whole matter with a bit of optimism (which admittedly, I'm not known for, but I'm trying. :D), I think my final analysis might have to be that the Daemon is good.
This is the thought process I imagine Sebek going through in the final pages of the book, when he makes the decision to keep the Daemon. He knew that society would devolve into chaos without it, and he knew that it had positive impacts so far, but he also realized that while trusting the Daemon itself was a huge risk, that wasn't actually who he was trusting. The Daemon was simply a facilitator (at least at that point) of an international community. He chose to trust the people, which, when you think about it, is really the only thing you can do in any society. Because, in the end, there are only people.
Spencer: I have to agree with that analysis. I like the idea that the Daemon, by the end of the book, has really become the community that has sprung up around it. If that's true, I'm definitely behind it. The more that the Daemon still has parts of itself hidden from the community, the less I'm inclined to trust its stability.
I wonder, if you were Sobol, what sort of contingency plan you would try to set up. You would probably train members of the community in what to do if large pieces of infrastructure fell apart.
I guess I'd also have to ask how integrated the Daemon is; to what extent it exists in loosely coupled pieces connected by humans versus being a tightly technically interwoven system. I would say that the more loosely coupled the Daemon is, the more robust it is. In the book the Daemon is mostly portrayed as being tightly integrated so that it can maintain its blitzkrieg, but as you were saying, the peacetime Daemon has ceded a lot of power to its human constituents, so I don't really know what the final state of the Daemon looks like.
In the end, I'd guess the Daemon is fairly robust and support it, but you're right: we don't have enough information :)
So there you have it. Our lengthy analysis of Daemon, and our final decision that it is indeed good.
It all started when Spencer sent me a comment on my blog, asking me how I had personally answered the question I had mentioned in my review of Freedom: "But in Freedom, it is suddenly a question that you have to answer for yourselves. " (whether the Daemon is evil or good).
My response: WARNING: Below you will find a somewhat rambling, stream of consciousness style answer to your question. :) I am also very curious to hear what your opinion on the matter is, and what you think of my answer to it.
I'm not really sure. At the end of the story, they needed it, because they were no longer able to function without it, but they also would have never gotten into that giant mess in the first place if not for it's presence. I think they were, in many ways, better off because of the Daemon and the Darknet, but the considering the tremendous loss of life that it took to get there, I'm not sure if I would say it was worth it. Really, I think that the Daemon itself can't be good or evil. It's not a sentient being, and can't have good or bad intentions.
What I think really matters is the intentions of it's creator, Matthew Sobol. In the end, he seemed to have good intentions. He created a system that punished wrongdoers, and supported the grassroots community. Maybe what he realized was that the only way to get to that point was to force people to accept that they needed such a drastic change, which the Daemon did force them to do.
But, one major question still remains: was the loss of human life that it took to get to that endpoint worth it? I personally tend to value intention over actions, which forces me towards the conclusion that Sobol's Daemon was in the end a good creation. Of course, Sobol knew when he created the Daemon that he wouldn't ever have to live in a world where it was in control, so why should he care about the process, if the outcome was satisfactory.
So, really, I'm not sure. I would lean towards saying that it was good, but it's hard to say for sure, not knowing what a world without the Daemon would have looked like.
Spencer: WARNING: Here thar be a long, rambling pontification which is worse than unstructured, in that it is structured poorly :)
Hmm. I'm a utilitarian, so the outcome (total outcome: I do factor in the various bad things and loss of life that the Daemon caused in order to establish itself in the "outcome" of the decision to create the Daemon) is my main consideration. Whether Sobol's intentions were good (I agree that they were) and whether the Daemon itself could be said to have intentions (I agree that it cannot) aren't as important to me.
Although I have the same feeling that you do that Sobol's good intentions at least partially justified his decision. If you want to put yourself in a position where you pass the least judgment on others' decisions, you have to approve the decisions that are well-intentioned, since that way you affirm the decision-maker's ability to decide what is good and what will work. Let 'em do whatever they want so long as they're not evil-intentioned. Does that make any sense?
But back to the Daemon. The total outcome is what matters in my opinion. So what do I think of the total outcome?
Assuming that the Daemon's new government is stable enough to last for a long time, the loss of life seems fairly negligible. I mean, compared to either of the world wars I'm guessing the total death toll is relatively small, because the Daemon pitted forces against focused targets rather than pitting entire nations against each other. I could be off on this though, since it's been a long time since I've read Daemon.
So I would argue that if the state of the world is significantly better after the Daemon's takeover, then the Daemon is good. It seems like in the short term this is definitely true, even if you argue that some of the technologies the Daemon instituted would not have been implemented so flawlessly in real life. (Which you have to, because the technologies surely would not have been.) The Daemon improved the state of the world through redistribution of income (and all sorts of stuff like education), fairer and cheating-proof democracy and justice through secure, networked and constant voting, plus a system that gave everyone who wanted one a role in society. These things have little to do with technology and more to do with enforcing fairness.
It also made the world more like a game and in doing so created purpose for people who had lost a sense of purpose in real life.
Suarez also, crucially, built adaptability into the system, so that the Daemon could facilitate all sorts of other beneficial stuff and adapt to change.
However, this ability to change also represents a security risk. You raised an important point: "At the end of the story, they needed it, because they were no longer able to function without it". By removing existing political structure and forcing everyone to rely on the same infrastructure, the Daemon made the world a lot less robust. A single hacker who figured out how to game the system could cause immeasurable damage. I think Suarez would argue that infrastructure defense security people would be able to contain the damage, but if they could not and the Daemon were destroyed, the world would fall into anarchy and chaos. Or if the hacker/hacker's organization managed to turn the Daemon to their own ends fast enough to stymie the infrastructure defense people, they would essentially have unlimited power and the capacity to do all sorts of horrible things.
So in the end my evaluation of the Daemon comes down to how stable and un-game-able it turns out to be. If Suarez's argument that the people who believe in the Daemon will successfully be able to protect, update, and perpetuate it is valid, I'm all for the Daemon. But if it's hacked, the negative consequences would be enormous.
That's my take :) Looking forward to hearing what you think,
Me: I do think that you are right in saying that total outcome is more important in this particular situation. While I do highly value Sobol's good intentions, since he knew he would never actually see the Daemon in action, I don't think it's the most important factor to consider.
I also agree that long term stability (if the Daemon proved able to provide that) would negate the loss of life. I don't know what the death tolls would have been like, but it is probably true that it would have been less than many wars. While there seemed to be significant loss of life in certain area, and in certain groups of people, much of the world didn't fall into any of the target groups, and thus should have been fine.
My main problem with the entire idea is how dependent the entire world is on the Daemon at the end of the book. If they were able to function successfully without it, I think that the danger of it being hacked would be much less, because they could simply shut it down in an emergency, temporary, or, in an extreme case, forever. But because of their dependence on it, if someone did take over the system, they would be stuck in it. They could hope that, as you suggested, members of the community would be able to fix the damage, but in a worst-case scenario, they would have no way to "get away" from the Daemon, without causing mass chaos, which might arguably be worse than whatever damage the hacker caused.
I am leaning toward saying the Daemon is a good thing, though I think in the end, it defies any such simplistic categories. There is so much more information I would want before making a true analysis, but since that information was not available, I think that, considering just the information provided, I will say that the Daemon is good. Granted, it's risky, and there are plenty of possible issues, but I think that given what we have seen the Darknet community achieve in the past, and looking at the the whole matter with a bit of optimism (which admittedly, I'm not known for, but I'm trying. :D), I think my final analysis might have to be that the Daemon is good.
This is the thought process I imagine Sebek going through in the final pages of the book, when he makes the decision to keep the Daemon. He knew that society would devolve into chaos without it, and he knew that it had positive impacts so far, but he also realized that while trusting the Daemon itself was a huge risk, that wasn't actually who he was trusting. The Daemon was simply a facilitator (at least at that point) of an international community. He chose to trust the people, which, when you think about it, is really the only thing you can do in any society. Because, in the end, there are only people.
Spencer: I have to agree with that analysis. I like the idea that the Daemon, by the end of the book, has really become the community that has sprung up around it. If that's true, I'm definitely behind it. The more that the Daemon still has parts of itself hidden from the community, the less I'm inclined to trust its stability.
I wonder, if you were Sobol, what sort of contingency plan you would try to set up. You would probably train members of the community in what to do if large pieces of infrastructure fell apart.
I guess I'd also have to ask how integrated the Daemon is; to what extent it exists in loosely coupled pieces connected by humans versus being a tightly technically interwoven system. I would say that the more loosely coupled the Daemon is, the more robust it is. In the book the Daemon is mostly portrayed as being tightly integrated so that it can maintain its blitzkrieg, but as you were saying, the peacetime Daemon has ceded a lot of power to its human constituents, so I don't really know what the final state of the Daemon looks like.
In the end, I'd guess the Daemon is fairly robust and support it, but you're right: we don't have enough information :)
So there you have it. Our lengthy analysis of Daemon, and our final decision that it is indeed good.
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