PEOPLE UNDERSTAND NATURALLY how rules provide the structure for social interaction, in general — but that rule-breaking at appropriate times is necessary, to provide the resiliency for proper societal growth.
Rules, being stagnant in nature, cannot themselves change to fit the unpredictability of events as life unfolds. It takes a human mind to do this, by balancing the risks and rewards present in any particular situation, I’m sure you would agree.
Since harshly-enforced rules deter spontaneous growth — where opportunities arise and are engaged more easily than can be engaged otherwise — it is incumbent that rules have shadow areas where they do not apply, to allow for rule-breaking, by individuals who would then carry the risks in doing so.
The red traffic light, for example, over a clear intersection with no surrounding traffic, should not constitute a crime to proceed with caution instead, because a camera may catch a violation of standing orders.
Shadow areas are increasingly encroached upon, by networks of cameras and related video storage.
We can expect the future to become an increasingly frightening place to live, as one after another shadow areas becomes occupied territory for monitoring equipment, catching everyone with a steak of creative independence.
The bright side, possibly, is that, in spite of every blemish being recorded, we will all become immortal in a digital world.
How lucky. People in earlier times could never expect as much.
Thwarticus 