3.19 Trust and Power
57
In other words, both legitimacy and power are contingent on the authorities doing
what the people regard to be “the right thing”. If people withdraw their support,
authority and power vanish. While the state can purchase weapons and, with this,
acquire destructive power, constructive power depends on the trust and support of
the people. While weapons might create fear, this is not a good substitute for genuine
legitimacy. As the situation becomes increasingly unacceptable, more and more
people will lose their fear, and start to resist the previously respected authorities.
Some may even be willing to sacrifice their own lives. Remember that many extremists and terrorists previously led normal family lives. But even the passiveness of
citizens can make a country fail within just a few years. This could be observed, for
example, in the former German Democratic Republic, which had a horrible surveillance system. For these reasons, I am convinced that trust is the only sustainable
basis of power and social order.
67
3.20 Appendix 1: Nervousnet: A Decentralized Digital
Nervous System
The open standards of the World Wide Web (WWW) have unleashed a digital
economy worth many billion dollars, and participatory projects such as Linux,
Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap have created opportunities for everyone. Therefore,
it makes a lot of sense to build a Planetary Nervous System, which uses the sensor
networks behind the Internet of Things, including those in our smartphones, to
measure the world around us and build a data commons together. The question
is how to do this while respecting privacy and minimizing misuse. It is time to learn
this now.
The Nervousnet project has started to work on such an open and participatory,
distributed information platform for real-time data.
68 Nervousnet is an open source
project, which believes in the importance of privacy, informational self-determination
and trust. If you download the Nervousnet app to your smartphone, you can choose
to turn about 10 different sensors separately on or off, such as the accelerometer, light
or noise sensors. You can measure data about your environment for yourself (kept on
your smartphone) or share it with others (as decided by yourself). External sensors for
“smart home” and other applications can be added (for example, weather or health
sensors). To maximize informational self-control, the user can also determine the
recording rate, and potentially the storage time after which the data will be deleted.
Shared data are anonymized. In addition, we are working on data encryption and
67 The following TEDx talk by Detlef Fetchenhauer explains why trust is often better than control:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZlzCc57qX4.
68 See http://www.nervous.ethz.ch/ and http://www.futurict.eu, also https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=BKcWPdSUJVA. The Nervousnet app can be downloaded via Apple’s AppStore and
Google’s play.
57
In other words, both legitimacy and power are contingent on the authorities doing
what the people regard to be “the right thing”. If people withdraw their support,
authority and power vanish. While the state can purchase weapons and, with this,
acquire destructive power, constructive power depends on the trust and support of
the people. While weapons might create fear, this is not a good substitute for genuine
legitimacy. As the situation becomes increasingly unacceptable, more and more
people will lose their fear, and start to resist the previously respected authorities.
Some may even be willing to sacrifice their own lives. Remember that many extremists and terrorists previously led normal family lives. But even the passiveness of
citizens can make a country fail within just a few years. This could be observed, for
example, in the former German Democratic Republic, which had a horrible surveillance system. For these reasons, I am convinced that trust is the only sustainable
basis of power and social order.
67
3.20 Appendix 1: Nervousnet: A Decentralized Digital
Nervous System
The open standards of the World Wide Web (WWW) have unleashed a digital
economy worth many billion dollars, and participatory projects such as Linux,
Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap have created opportunities for everyone. Therefore,
it makes a lot of sense to build a Planetary Nervous System, which uses the sensor
networks behind the Internet of Things, including those in our smartphones, to
measure the world around us and build a data commons together. The question
is how to do this while respecting privacy and minimizing misuse. It is time to learn
this now.
The Nervousnet project has started to work on such an open and participatory,
distributed information platform for real-time data.
68 Nervousnet is an open source
project, which believes in the importance of privacy, informational self-determination
and trust. If you download the Nervousnet app to your smartphone, you can choose
to turn about 10 different sensors separately on or off, such as the accelerometer, light
or noise sensors. You can measure data about your environment for yourself (kept on
your smartphone) or share it with others (as decided by yourself). External sensors for
“smart home” and other applications can be added (for example, weather or health
sensors). To maximize informational self-control, the user can also determine the
recording rate, and potentially the storage time after which the data will be deleted.
Shared data are anonymized. In addition, we are working on data encryption and
67 The following TEDx talk by Detlef Fetchenhauer explains why trust is often better than control:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZlzCc57qX4.
68 See http://www.nervous.ethz.ch/ and http://www.futurict.eu, also https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=BKcWPdSUJVA. The Nervousnet app can be downloaded via Apple’s AppStore and
Google’s play.