Cyberpower sits at the intersection of four Chinese national priorities. First, Chinese leaders want to ensure a harmonious Internet. That means one that guides public opinion, supports good governance, and fosters economic growth but also is tightly controlled so as to stymie political mobilization and prevent the flow of information that could undermine the regime.
That’s not much different from what’s going on with social media these days. In our case those directives don’t come from the government (although there’s no doubt many in the government are happy with them) but from the relatively small group of Silicon Valley people which control these organisations. That’s an indication of how power is distributed in our society vs. theirs.
Unfortunately the result in both cases moves in the same direction. Technology traditionally favours the centralisation of power, and US attempts to diffuse it haven’t quite worked out as expected. The arc of history doesn’t always bend where we’d like it to. The good news for Christians is that the One who really bends the arc is still in charge, although the earthly tools he uses for that purpose aren’t always the one we’d prefer or expect.
Positive Infinity 