The Quiet Erosion
The quiet erosion of personal liberty. In conversation with Michael Arbon, Reality Check Radio.
Digital identity was the starting point for this conversation, but the discussion quickly moved to a broader question:
What happens when individuals and families increasingly outsource responsibility to institutions and the state?
Michael Arbon and I discuss digital ID as infrastructure, the gradual erosion of boundaries between different parts of our lives, and why convenience deserves closer scrutiny when it changes who holds power.
We also explore parenting, competence and personal responsibility; Australia's social-media restrictions for children; my family's move across the country to Western Australia; and why preserving liberty ultimately requires more than simply opposing bad policy.
At the heart of the conversation is a simple idea: freedom requires capable people willing to exercise it.
“We’ve confused being looked after with being free.”
— Paul G. Conlon
Beyond Digital ID.
Digital ID is one example of a much larger shift in the relationship between citizens and institutions. Technology changes, but the underlying questions remain remarkably consistent: who makes decisions, who holds responsibility, and how much autonomy are we prepared to exchange for convenience?
That is the thread connecting much of my work—from Citizen One and digital identity to my research into governance, decentralisation and institutional power.