ENEMY OF THE STATE PART TWO: THE ESSENTIAL UNKNOWN

As the practically proverbial phrase goes, “There are some things better left unsaid.” Are there also things that are better left unknown? This may be the case after taking a closer look at the Edward Snowden ordeal, for it seems as though as a result of this man trying to play God, havoc was wrought upon the United States as well as the rest of the world. In order to see the detrimental effects of omniscience, one must look to the past – all the way back to the ancient stories of Greek mythology. The myth that truly conveys the ill effects of the all-knowing powers often desired by humans is the story of the origin of the Cyclopes and their single eye. In brief, the Cyclopes asked Zeus for the power to see the future in exchange for one of each of their eyes. Zeus carried out the deal as promised, giving the Cyclopes the power to see the future – the only catch was that he only allowed them to see the day in the future on which they die. In turn, the moral of this story was that when a mortal wishes for the knowledge only the immortal should see, when their wish is granted, the future does not make them any more powerful or happy. Rather, they only end up seeing the bad in the future. Another ancient story that manifests the injurious nature of omniscience in the hands of mortals is found in the Holy Bible – the story of Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve, despite God’s warnings against it, ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which exposed them and all generations of man to come to evil and sin – something they would never have known if not for their choice to choose knowledge over obedience to God. The moral of this story, similar to the moral of the story of the Cyclopes, is that humans do not benefit from omniscience and that the only one who truly needs all-knowing powers is God. How then are Snowden’s actions any different from those of the Cyclopes and Adam and Eve? He says that he wants all data and information to be free to the public rather than having only government officials exposed to it, similar to how the Cyclopes and Adam and Eve wanted the knowledge only the deities had access to in each story. He let this desire for all people to have knowledge of the NSA’s doings control his actions as he proceeded to leak the information to the world, just as the Cyclopes made a deal with Zeus to have the power to see into the future in exchange for one of their eyes and as Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil so that they could know as much as God. The fallouts in all three stories also run parallel to one another. With Edward Snowden, the information that went from merely the hands of the NSA to all people put the United States citizens at risk for danger that the NSA was once able to prevent while the United States’ relationships with other countries were also damaged. With the Cyclopes, their exposure to knowledge only meant for the gods was similarly detrimental in that they only saw the day and way in which they were to die. With Adam and Eve, their eating of the tree exposed them to the evil of sin. In other words, in all three situations, those who desired omniscience became no freer or happier from it, and their accounts served to reveal that omniscience is not something meant for everyone to possess. Instead, those in positions of power – the government or Zeus or God – are the only ones meant to be exposed to such knowledge. As French poet Alphonse de Lamartine says in his poem “L’Homme”, “Our crime is to be a man and want to know…” Snowden and his actions, thus, are an example of the harmful effects of desiring and striving for omniscience – and that was what was truly wrong with what he did.