The world of computer networks is a chaotic realm, devoted more to individuals and flashes of genius than bureaucratic organization. Cyberspace also has the potential for being a revolutionary battleground. Consider the difficulties that pre-cybernetic guerrillas faced in maintaining communications, secrecy intelligence, and propaganda dissemination.

The classic insurgent organization has been based on a network of underground cells. The cells had to remain small to prevent detection by government security forces and to prevent the betrayal of the entire organization through the interrogation of individual members.

But, with the rise of the worldwide Internet, much larger groups can meet but still preserve secrecy through the use of bulletin boards, false electronic mail addresses, and encryption programs. No one need know anyone else's true identity

Through the Internet, it becomes possible for cybernautic insurgents to reach huge chunks of a populace. Private encryption programs are a means for secure insurgent communications. By plugging into the ubiquitous telephone jack, cybernauts can direct operations with a minimum of physical contact.

Geographical barriers disappear and front groups can be formed regardless of distances.

Insurgents can spread propaganda across the nation and world. The older limitations of gaining control of the media disappear. Everyone with a monitor becomes an audience. One potential target becomes enemy security forces. Cybernauts can penetrate to the heart of the enemy and encourage defection.

Computer based networks would serve as alternative information systems. They could circumvent and supersede officially sanctioned news, education, and data sources. Because information is power in the cybernetic age, this circumstance would give such alternative infrastructures an incredible edge.

Cyberspace is also an intelligence battleground. Cyber-insurgents can penetrate enemy systems. They can then obtain data, sabotage enemy programs, create Trojan horses, spread viruses, place time bombs, and create false files to confuse the foe. Intelligence information can be passed quickly from double agents to the insurgent organization. The possibilities are endless for both sides.

Experience shows that insurgents must selectively target their attacks. For example, a computer virus that erases the general public's bank accounts would quickly alienate the people. On the other hand, a virus that, say, deleted the files of dissidents from secret police computers might quickly win over the support of many for the insurgents.

Video technology and interactive compact discs (CDs) provide a potential for propaganda. Propaganda messages could be videorecorded, then disseminated throughout society This technology could also be used for training. For example, guerrilla warfare courses could be videotaped, reproduced on cheap cassettes, and then spread throughout a country

Given the ease of reproduction (all it takes is two videocassette machines hooked up), videotapes could rapidly supersede the underground printing press as a means of revolution. Censorship will suddenly become irrelevant, and with it, much of the government's ability to control events.

Related to cyberspace are other developments that expand the range of the human consciousness. The so-called "smart drugs" (the nootropics, such as Piracetam) have become popular recently They are supposed to act as intelligence boosters and memory enhancers. If so, then this development is a direct threat to governmental control. Repression ultimately relies on people voluntarily accepting government limits on what one thinks. When people break these bounds, repression collapses.

Virtual reality technology allows people to reach beyond the limits imposed by society This ability is especially true in the field of cyber- sex, the simulation of sexual experiences.

As George Orwell points out in his 1984, sexual freedom is a threat to the state because sex creates its own world beyond the government's control. If individuals can completely control their sexuality then the entire foundation for "traditional" sexual values and with it, traditional means of societal control - will be threatened, if not destroyed.

The rise of "punk" rock in the 1970s, with its various descendants, cousins, and unrelated offspring -- speed metal, industrial, thrash, deathrock, etc. -- involves a process of placing increased amounts of information into a smaller amount of space, and creating a separate reality Hence, the not-too-illogical leap of punk to cyberpunk.

With the increased use of synthesized music to break the older boundaries, and the ability to combine it with other forms of mental stimulation, "hyper-rock" becomes another revolutionary weapon.

The war for cyberspace may prove decisive if for no other reason than that the forces of repression will be faced with a dilemma. If they "Crack dowri" on high-technology fields, then they will destroy the American edge in these areas. This policy, in turn, will undermine America's economic and military position internationally.

Past attempts by the former East European communist governments to control internal communications technology contributed in part to their downfall because they could not compete with the Western world--or their own people. The revolution in technology means a revolution in politics. Those who control it will win.

Selected References

Jules Archet; The Plot to Seize the White House. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973. [An account of an alleged attempt to create a coup in Depression era America.]
John Briggs and F David Peat, Turbulent Mirror. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. [A general introduction to Chaos theory]
Anthony Burgess, 1985. Boston: Little Brown, 1978. [A good examination of freedom and repression in the modern state, using Orwell's 1984 as a starting point.]
James Burnham, The Managerial Revolution. Newport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1972, c. 1941. [In this classic political work, Burnham describes the rise of the modern centralized industrial state.]
Lt. Colonel Charles Dunlap, "The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012," Parameters, Winter 1992-93.
Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. various editions. [Heinlein gives a prophetic look of the uses computers can be put to in revolution.]
John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 19 80. [This book was one of the foundations for the first American Revolution.]
George Orwell, Nineteen Eigbty Four, various editions. [An incisive account of how governments manipulate media, sexual repression and war to maintain their own power]
Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here. Garden City NY Sundial Press, 1935. [One of America's greatest social critics describes a "what if " civil war in the USA.]
Rudy Rucker, ed. Mondo: A User's Guide to the New Edge, New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. [A fairly broad compendium of developments in the cybernetic and related worlds.]
Sir Robert Thompson, Revolutionary War in World Strategy. New York: Taplinger Publishing, 1970. [A good summary of how insurgencies are conducted, and how intelligent governments can defeat them.]

Organizations
Electronic Frontier Foundation. One Cambridge Center Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142. [Defenders of cyberspace!]
The Extropians. Electronic mail address: more@extropy.org [A future- oriented advocacy group.]
International Society for Individual Liberty 1800 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94102. [Lots of information on various pro-freedom movements.]