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One's Computer is part of one's mind |
Edict Date: 08-29-2009
In the course of human evolution humanity has evolved speech and the ability to communicate complex thoughts and ideas. Over time this speech evolved to include writing allowing knowledge to be stored externally from the human mind. Through writing the Tree of Knowledge expanded greatly and people learned who to read and write so that then could receive knowledge and give knowledge back to the Tree.
Humanity continued to evolve past just writing. In the late 19th century and 20th century humanity developed the ability to record audio and video, and those recordings can and are being reproduced and distributed. Now in the last few decades humanity has developed the Internet which is our new more powerful repository of the Tree of Knowledge, the sum total of human understanding is now stored on the net.
One's computer is and extension of or physical brain and our thoughts are stored in both places.
We use computers, personal computers, as a tool to interface with our stored knowledge and to allow us to communicate with each other. It is also a tool where we store our important writing, papers, ideas, inventions, thoughts, and messages from those who we have a relationship with. Our computer(s) are an extension of our mind and that are as much a part of us as our body is.
Our thoughts are who we are and because of evolution we have evolved to the point where our thoughts are not limited to our physical mind. In the Church of Reality our data stored on our computers is considered to be part of what is stored in our minds. Our computer(s) are part of our brains. The thoughts in our minds and our data and software on our computers are considered part of the mind of the individual.
Realists have as one of our Sacred Principles the Principle of Privacy. This principle applies to the greatest extent to our thoughts and the workings of our minds. In our world view our minds are who we are and our computer(s) are part of our minds. In fact to a large extent the part of our mind that is stored on our computer(s) is what lives on after our biological mind is gone. Our would view is the mind is the soul of the individual and that our computer(s) are part of that soul. It is more intimately part of us that any part of our physical body and is our most private place.
As individuals writing our Life Story we need the privacy of our thoughts to make good decisions, or bad decisions, as to how we will live our life. We are a strongly individualistic religion promoting cultural diversity and experimentation of thoughts and ideas. Our world view is strongly in favor of freedom of ideas and a culture that supports unusual people who are resourceful and innovative.
Often in our history we see examples where the greatest among us were the ones that had a vision of the future which was contrary to culture and in some cases the law. People like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela were individuals who dreamed a bigger dream where all people had equal rights. There are people in society today who are on the fringe of the cultures they live in who will one day allow the oppressed to rise up and take their rightful places in society. But for them to succeed they will need the protections of law that make the difference between them succeeding in furthering the evolution of humanity or if they will be killed. If the Indian government had seized Gandhi's computer, India might still be part of the British Empire.
Since our core missions in the Church of Reality are based on the Positive Evolution of humanity and that we all aspire to be like Gandhi, King, and Mandela, our minds, our thoughts, must be protected. And since our computers are part of our minds, for a nation state to search our computers is morally equivalent to them searching our brains. Our minds are the most intimate part of our bodies and we consider a forced search of our minds as more horrific than rape.
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