Microsoft did it again. Some users of the beta version of Explorer 4.0 were surprised to
learn that, after they went to sleep, their computers were
dialing Microsoft and telling it secrets, downloading information
from Microsoft's web pages and uploading information from the
sanctity of their homes.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that Microsoft says such calls
only happen when the feature is activated, but admits that users
can activate it without understanding the consequences. Said one
beta tester who had wandered in search of a midnight snack, "I
was completely freaking out. I pulled the phone plug right out of
the wall."
Microsoft insists that the system is under the user's control,
but many users didn't know that. The users can be forgiven a
little skepticism. ("I'm getting more and more cynical all the
time," said Jane Wagner, "and I still can't keep up.") Microsoft
is widely believed to have a history of gathering data about
users secretly, but at the least, the company was indifferent to
the concerns of the human user at the end of the connection. They
did not allow the user to maintain an illusion of control.
The truth is, our computers are sending and receiving all sorts
of information back and forth automatically all the time. As
Edward Felten, head of the Secure Internet Programming Laboratory
at Princeton University, said, "I think part of the concern here
is the feeling that you've lost control of the computer when it's
doing stuff in the middle of the night. The feeling is that
you've got control of the computer if you're sitting in front of
it. The reality is that you only have the illusion of control."
Psychologists tell us that dominance and submissiveness are two
traits that we immediately recognize in others. Of course,
submissiveness is often a way of dominating others too, so its
safe to say that all human beings expend energy on dominating
others and avoiding being dominated by them.
The computer isn't a person, but we treat the computer like a
person and react to it as if it's a person. The network invites
powerful projections, some of them straight out of the
Frankenstein legend. We fear the monster we created and can not
control. The more we resist domination, the more we hate symbols
of the dominator -- Microsoft, in this case, often called "the
Borg" and the "Evil Empire," as well as all computers and
networks.
When I lived in Hawaii, I "crossed over" sufficiently into the
way that blend of Polynesian and Asian cultures sees things that
I sometimes could see "haoles" like myself -- the Hawaiian word
for ghosts or pale North Americans -- as the Hawaiians saw us.
I recall a recent arrival to the islands holding forth one day at
the tennis courts. The local people listened quietly as he
explained what needed to be done to improve the islands. He
believed their silence was agreement and kept talking until he
grew tired. Then the small crowd scattered and he went off to
look at the surfers, thinking he had accomplished something.
"Haoles" think talking is doing, that by telling others what we
think or intend to do, we have engaged in action. In fact, the
crowd was politely waiting for him to finish. They had heard it
all before and learned how to absorb the words of well-meaning
tourists as the sea absorbs our energy when we swim.
The principles of aikido, both a martial art and a spiritual
discipline, underscore that approach. There are no aggressive
moves in aikido. Instead one aligns one's energy with the energy
of an attacker, enabling them to complete a move with as little
damage to oneself as possible.
All spiritual traditions talk about real power as an alignment of
our energy with the energy that is already flowing, the "tao" or
the movement of the universe. The advice of Jesus to turn the
other cheek has been distorted to mean that people being beaten
should keep taking abuse, but that isn't what it meant. It's more
on the order of "turn to align yourself with the energy coming at
you" in order to increase, rather than decrease, your real
control of the situation.
In a workshop demonstrating the principles of gestalt psychology,
a group of us were asked to join a loose circle and let our arms
fall naturally around one another's waists. Then we were told to
"make the circle go where you want it to go." Everyone pushed in
different directions and we all fell down. It felt fragmented and
chaotic. Then we reconstituted the circle and were told to allow
the circle to move as it chose to move. We found ourselves
engaged in a natural back-and-forth rhythm, and we experienced
deep feelings of well-being as we allowed ourselves to be part of
something without having to impose our will on it.
In hierarchical structures, we learn to exercise power by
dominating and controlling. In webs or networks, we can't do
that. Our energy is diffused along the strands of the web.
The way to exercise power in a network is by contributing and
participating. That's why leadership in flattened organizations
requires people who know how to implement a vision by coaching,
rather than giving orders -- like the CEO who called the troops
together and told them, "You are all empowered," then returned to
his office, thinking as haoles do that he had accomplished
something.
Much of what we call power is the illusion of control. Whether
connected to a network, sitting in front of a computer that has
an antonymous operating system, engaging in a relationship with a
person, or trying to make the world move as we want -- it is all
an illusion of control. The only thing we can control is the
quality of our response to life. We have an innate capacity to
respond to whatever life brings with dignity, elasticity, and --
when the chips are down -- genuine heroism.
The way to rule the world, as Lao Tzu said, is by letting things
simply take their course.
