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by wu-ikkyu 3007 days ago
>More importantly, how different is mental manipulation compared to physical manipulation as commonly seen with dictatorship?

A number of futurists from many decades ago foretold this transition of power from brute physical force to subtle information warfare:

"World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation. (p.66)"

-Culture is Our Business, Marshall McLuhan (1970)

"World War I a railway war of centralization and encirclement. World War II a radio war of decentralization concluded by the Bomb. World War III a TV guerrilla war with no divisions between civil and military fronts."

-Take Today: The Executive as Dropout, Marshall McLuhan (1972)

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(Toffler_book)#...