Tyranny Of Condescension

A chilling quote from the science fiction novel Ventus, by Karl Schroeder, p251:

"Archipelago is the only answer to ruling a population of trillions, who own a million different cultures, mores, and histories." He shrugged. "It is simple: an artificial intelligence - a mechal brain, if you will - exists and mediates things. It knows each and every citizen personally and orchestrates their meetings with others, communications, and so on in order to avoid irreconcilable conflict. Beyond that, it stays out of sight, for it has no values, no desires of its own. It is as if every person had their own guardian spirit, and these spirits never warred, but acted in concert to improve people's lives."

"A tyranny of condescension," said Galas.