The funny thing about your concern is that control takes work. Every problem that you mentioned exists now but on a lesser technological scale. People are brainwashed often to the point of wanting to be further brainwashed. The real trouble is considering how much quality of work and protection that you can get out of a thinking device without losing control.
It is my belief that individuals with free minds and the position that minds are better off being free of oppression will always have a greater ability to subvert and topple any moral atrocity that attempts to control more than it legitimately can. All we need are more options to work with than we currently have.
One man's oppression is another's paradise. If I can edit another's thoughts to have him accept my rule as being benevolent and ultimately to his benefit, is that "oppression"? If I can edit out the chaotic tendency of modern men's desire for "freedom," "individuality," "ownership," wouldn't humanity coalesce under unquestioned rule by one man or group? Would not the harmony and cooperation produced by such union worth jetisoning the aforementioned chaotic ideas?
Good questions. I think however that the answer stands in the light of real integrity. An addict goes back to their addiction until it kills them, but if someone is willing to help them reflect mindfully of their condition, would they really keep it?
I think the evidence will have to come from either reading the minds of opposing ideologues or connecting our minds with said ideologues. I hope and hypothesize that such individuals will give up their obsessive nonsense when they see that you have really pointed out their contradictions without deceit.
Does logic and reasoning cure addiction?
I believe 'addiction' is simply attempting to meet a need through a false substitute. Since this substitute never meets the need, an addiction is created as the need is never satiated. The key to overcoming any addiction is to find out what the need underlying that addiction is, and take action to meet it. To focus any energy on 'stopping' the addiction is wasted energy because the need is still unmet, which will continue to drive the addiction, it's an endless battle we see every addict losing.
This is the same with all the technocratic control methods expressed above as more 'fixes' of our technocratically addicted society. We're unfulfilled, unhealthy, bored, overworked, etc. And our material sciences promises to cure or improve these ailments (a promise it has been making for 100's of years). Yet, as a sober human we can look at the facts of the matter. We work longer, we're sicker, more depressed, our natural world is literally killing us as we can't drink the water and can scarcely breathe the air in many places, etc, etc. We're decaying, and instead of attempting a new strategy to meet our true needs, we go for another technological hit, a bigger and better invention, a stronger and stronger dose! As each dose, we continue to pollute ourselves and our earth. I can sit here and reason with you and employ logic. But, maybe you won't see what I'm saying. Which goes back to my first question.
Does logic and reasoning cure addiction?
The thing is, every one of your impulses comes with a goal of receiving a positive feedback. Accomplish goal, get serotonin or dopamine. Body tells you to have sex, it doesn't matter if your judgement suggests otherwise, you're going to have sex or the next generation will be made of children from hornier parents. Everything works this way. The danger of cyber drug technology is that we will have the power to cut out the middle step. Just get the positive reward of orgasm and skip the sex. Take full control... except for the control to not need the serotonin and dopamine.
I think that it is my rationality, which I give full authority to in my mind, that counters this effect. Rational problem solving circuits of my brain get a reward for solving puzzles and connecting dots. They have a positive feedback loop to keep doing more but they also get the positive feedback just for working honestly. I get a headache and emotional withdraw if I find myself lying, even to others. I hate liars, and to lie myself means I would hate myself.
Therefore, I think if one part of my rational neurons got a positive feedback that didn't mesh with consistency, the others would figure it out and say "No! We do not lie!" It's of course more complex than that and there are some exceptions like playing pretend or doing so to prevent others from harm... ok, yes, also to save face at times, but we hate ourselves for that. :(
I'm not saying this is the case. However, just in the spirit of 'deep-thinking' could it be possible that the technocratic allure of ultimate freedom and happiness (when I believe it is quite the opposite), is perhaps causing a sort of manipulation that would cause more people to want to travel down this path, even though it has consistently, since it's inception, failed to meet the qualitative benefits it has promised humanity?
I'm also not saying it's not the case ;)
Technological allure to the point of our demise? Quite possibly. Already happened to some gaming addicts.
As for not fulfilling the promised quality of life... Umm, you know there's a lot less suffering due to medicine, right? I mean the most painful lives to live in the world are where economics denies people these advantages. The economists are really dumb too, because if they pushed single payer universal healthcare for the world, they'd profit AND stop getting the flu every year. Even their hookers would be less likely to get STDs to spread to them.
A hooker is a natural remedy, right?
Hookers and poverty and most of our 'suffering' requiring modern 'medicine' is the result of the technocratic program. Any suffering that has been decreased was only caused by this program. I believe much of our history has been fabricated and skewed to support the theory of our superiority. I mean, why not, it wouldn't be fun to admit that we are actually declining. But the observable facts suggest otherwise.
Look at the Kong! A pretty boring example of a people living much better than our culture typically does. In one of the harshest climates on the planet. They have no mechanical technology, yet, there they are, living long, hardly any diseases to speak of, plenty of leisure time. I'm not saying I would trade them places because I will create better, and in a much more hospitable environment... But, this is simply a stark example that pokes a lot of holes in the illusions of mechanical sciences 'benefits'.
Even when you speak of economists and single-payer health care. Those are all possibly remedies and outcomes for problems created by our technocratic sciences and the resulting philosophies that gave rise to our exceptionally faulty models of governance.
I don't see what I understand as history as being favorable to give humankind or even westerners in general much of a legacy to be proud of. However, if there's facts regarding history that we aren't in clear agreement on then the conversation should focus on the specifics of these facts which we both have a different understanding of. I took a course on the history of science once. I thought that was pretty good with most westerners dragging their feet rather than getting with the program of the scientific revolution.
As for the Kong, do you mean Viet Kong, or Hong Kong or something else? I am very skeptical of the idea that any culture has proven to have better health by comparison to a culture with adequate (scientifically determined) healthcare. By all means, please show me what evidence has convinced you that such is the case and I'll look at it. But as you do so, please try to consider the answer to one question as you collect such evidence: what sort of evidence might convince you that it's actually a myth that the people of this healthcare-less culture are either without good healthcare or are living healthier than a culture that does? I ask this because with such conflicts of reality you and I must realize that at some point, someone (probably not one of us, but one of our sources) is just making stuff up.