Stealth rings and the Internet

The philosopher Plato from the 4th century BC once mentioned anonymity on the Internet.

In fact, he only tells a parable about the Gyges ring, whoever wears it can be invisible at will. Gyges is a shepherd in the land of Lydia, one day accidentally discovers the ring that helps him invisibility when turning the ring. He returned to the citadel, used the ring to seduce the queen, killed King Lydia and became king.

Plato argues that any ordinary person who is very moral can still do bad things if he no longer has to fear about the consequences of his actions, ie 'invisibility' in the eyes of others. Plato thinks that morality is a social institution, a source of moral leadership is a desire to preserve personal prestige before the society. But if this barrier is removed, people can lose morality in the blink of an eye.

Stealth rings and the Internet Picture 1

Telling Plato aside, suppose we have an invisibility cloak, what is the first thought of the majority? Probably also a bad idea that in the middle of the daylight, few people dare to do it. From stealing to eavesdropping, from tracking others to sneaking into the room . the person I love secretly remembering. At the very least, there are outlawed 'heavenly acts'.

Author Julie Zhuo used the image of Gyges ring in a New York Times article to suggest anonymity and then jump into social networks, comments on mainstream newspapers, to speak, humiliation of others is the result of the 'commentors' undetected ability (commenters). If you are not responsible for your statements, people can speak blamelessly but they themselves cannot accept. In other words, according to anonymous psychologists, an increase in unethical behavior in the virtual world.

Current mainstream newspapers have to build software that filters such 'comments'. Many newspapers require readers to register their real names and e-mail addresses before they can send comments. But that's not enough because people can still create virtual names, virtual e-mail addresses easily. The problem is to use game theory and community power to remove anonymous commentary comments to mislead.

The forums and commentary of newspapers must build a strong community - even though the virtual world must comply with some rules of the game if they do not want to be excluded from the community. If today a person comments on 'eating', the next day all the resting community plays with him, even if he is hiding under a certain name, he will feel the pressure of the community. Constructive comments, giving new persuasive ideas, writing will gradually give people a prestigious comment in the community no different from the real world. At that time, the Gyges ring will no longer help anyone make a mistake.