The mechanisms of society and culture are a great mystery to most people. My time in college - especially in Washington - helped reveal to me how and why things work, and my time here in Chicago is opening up another world of doors to power, influence, and ideas. But still much remains closed, invisible or uninterpretable, reminding me of one of the great maxims of ID: "Accept the Ambiguity".
But perhaps it's not just ambiguity - perhaps there are parts which are deliberately made opaque. There exists the possibility that fearful or power-hungry individuals hide knowledge, processes, and above-mentioned doors in order to create scarcity. If this is truly the case - which surely it is in some places, as described in the book Secrets by Daniel Ellsberg - our society is currently undergoing profound transformations brought about by the cult of transparency.
In many circles, notably Academia and NGOs, the free flow of information sparked by the printing press and reaching its apogee in the internet is humanity's most fundamental source of value. This worldview implies that more open access to information creates a more efficient and effective use of that information, enriching everyone.
If there is anyone not committed to this idea of sharing access and knowledge, they may remain powerful and rich, but they will drown in the rising tide of converging societies that is coming to define our era.
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