After spending some time worrying about it, I finally realized that in
my personal life, I have very little — if anything — to hide. That can
only help me out.

And I'm glad that my posts encourage you to think, Jean, but I'm more
pleased that you feel I don't tell you what to think. I've never liked
people who do that. That's why I never liked critiquing poetry; I'll
tell you what I think it means, but don't try to tell me what it
definitely means.

What matters most is what we take away from it.

I'm trying to maintain an attitude more like yours, Jean. Privacy is going away, and I feel it's pointless to fight it. We have to roll with the punches and see it as an opportunity and not as a threat. We have to ask ourselves how we can make this situation benefit us.

After spending some time worrying about it, I finally realized that in my personal life, I have very little — if anything — to hide. That can only help me out.

And I'm glad that my posts encourage you to think, Jean, but I'm more pleased that you feel I don't tell you what to think. I've never liked people who do that. That's why I never liked critiquing poetry; I'll tell you what I think it means, but don't try to tell me what it definitely means.

What matters most is what we take away from it.

I think privacy as we knew it is gone, so I don't spend time bemoaning that or trying to put that cow back in the barn, so to speak. The world is open now thanks to the internet, and I'm okay with that. I know anything I say could be taken out of context at anytime, but I don't really think about that when I'm talking with folks. The way I see it, if someone doesn't want to hire me, vote for me, be with me, etc., because of something that I said or did, then it isn't meant to be.

I personally believe there is a shift going on online, whether that shift is a fundamental one or one that has simply been dormant is up for debate. Whenever the idea of complete, global connectivity and communication emerged, I think it was inevitable that privacy would decrease. The more you learn about someone, the less privacy that exists between you two, now imagine you are talking to 1,237 people at once.

Great thoughts here, and a question that, like you said, has no definitive answer, but is sure as hell fun to talk about.