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"I think we're still on that topic, still trying to figure out what computers are, how they change us, why we use them."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Electronic Voting | ||
| Using computer terminals to register votes from citizens. |
In the novel, every last bit of commerce, government business and private communication goes over a nation-wide data network. Some individuals obtain special access through the use of government power or great wealth, and use their access to conceal their criminal activities in a way that can never be uncovered.
Nick Haflinger, hacker extraordinaire, writes a super-tapeworm that ends this system, and devises an electronic plebiscite (e-voting) scheme to give every person in North America the opportunity to vote on two guiding principles that the tapeworm will enforce on the datanet.
Although Brunner did not invent the concept, this was a great mass-popularization of the idea. Buckminster Fuller wrote about "electrified voting" in 1971; there was at least on limited implementation for distributed choice-making done on early networked computers in 1970.
| From 0700 local until 1900 every veephone on the continent would display, over and over, two propositions, accompanied by a spoken version for the benefit of the illiterate. Most would be in English, but some would be in Spanish, some in Amerind languages, some in Chinese ... the proportions being based on the latest continental census. After each repetition would follow a pause, during which any adult could punch into the phone his or her code, followed by a "yes" or "no." |
| Technovelgy from The Shockwave Rider,
by John Brunner. Published by Harper and Row in 1975 Additional resources -
|
The propositions voted upon related to the laws governing the computer network that ran every aspect of people's lives. The electronic plebiscite ran as part of a super-tapeworm that would carry out the results of the voting immediately.
The first proposition:
#1: That this is a rich planet. Therefore poverty and hunger are unworthy of it, and since we can abolish them, we must.
And the second:
#2: That we are a civilized species. Therefore none shall henceforth gain illicit advantage by reason of the fact that we together know more than one of us can know.
So, how did you vote?
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Shockwave Rider
More Ideas
and Technology by John Brunner
Tech news articles related to The Shockwave Rider
Tech news articles related to works by John Brunner
Electronic Voting-related
news articles:
- No Online Voting Yet (How long Did You Wait In Line?)
- Electric Voting From Home Via Internet
- Electronic Voting Banned In Netherlands
- Vote Flipping Video Shows Poor Electronic Plebiscite
- E-Voting Simple And Verifiable
- Blockchain Used To Verify Election Results
- US Census Will Be Online In 2020
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
