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Christopher Allen

@ChristopherA

#QotD (Quote of the Day) "The power to name is the power to control." Came up today in the #Wyoming Digital Identity meeting, and it turns out this phrase has deep religious history & philosophical depth. For instance, in Genesis 19-20 delegating power to man to name the beasts.

1/18/2021, 11:51:27 AM

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Christopher Allen

@ChristopherA

This phrase also comes up in a number papers on the Talmud, colonialism, racism, and feminism.

1/18/2021, 11:58:43 AM

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Christopher Allen

@ChristopherA

In a number of fantasy books, such as the Earthsea book by @ursulaleguin, the powers of wizardry come from knowing True Names. And such power can overwhelm consent. This likely came from sources on mythology & esoterica.

1/18/2021, 12:02:33 PM

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Christopher Allen

@ChristopherA

The seminal SF story "True Names" by Vernor Vinge took this Earthsea concept to virtual world (which in many ways this story invented), which I read as a teen, which is probably the origin of my aversion to power of naming.

1/18/2021, 12:05:16 PM

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Christopher Allen

@ChristopherA

I'd not quite connected all the dots of my long-term reservations about technological control of names (DNS, TrueNames/RealNames, etc.) back to this particular long history of philosophical and religious thought about the power of names, and the authority to grant them. ៚

1/18/2021, 12:07:10 PM

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Christopher Allen

@ChristopherA

/ht @dazzagreenwood

1/18/2021, 12:09:44 PM

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Christopher Allen

@ChristopherA

I found even more interesting historical references to naming as power in this Wikipedia entry, using Isis controlling Ra by knowing his name, in Jacob wrestling an angel, in Kabbalaism, Daoism, and more : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_name

1/18/2021, 4:26:01 PM

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