The Age of Populism

Throughout history, society is trying to find the right system for how to govern the world. Asking the questions who should rule the world? What is the proper role of government? What is more important, individual or the group? What is the relationship between the citizen and the government? Apparently, none of these questions are easy to answer or apply in practice in such a way that it serves everyone equally. Most of the previous systems existing we based on the ideology of collectivism. Whose followers, collectivists, believe that the rights of a group are more important than the rights of an individual. Its strongest tool is propaganda and massive manipulation. From strong nationalistic statements to fake news and creation of pseudo-reality, the promises of prosperity, freedom and national growth, which leaders often bring along them, are the thing that leads the citizen’s trust and makes one follow those authorities. The internet, in its many forms, now has features of a state. We are all citizens of this platform and the internet became a strong political, manipulation, and market tool. The data privacy terms and conditions - are the internet's biggest move against democracy. This created a shift in power. People that own data, rule the world. My thesis looks closer on the journey from the state of nature into the cyber world, the shift from the citizen to the user, and how the individualistic dream of Ayn Rands turned into a new form on the totalitarian system where we, human beings, became just numbers.