The argument against the One Ring is not "it can't do good things". It's that no one being should have all that power.
The argument against censorship isn't "all ideas add to the marketplace". It's that no institution can be trusted to gatekeep the noosphere.
The argument against censorship isn't "all ideas add to the marketplace". It's that no institution can be trusted to gatekeep the noosphere.
Just as there is no Maxwell's Demon to magically sort atoms without doing thermodynamic work, there is no Speech Daemon to magically sort ideas without doing political work. Such a Daemon would be implemented by, and part of, the status quo power structures.
So the alternative to free speech isn't a magical realm with only the ideas worth debating. It's a MUCH stronger political establishment. At the best, you get China today. At worst you get North Korea under Kim Jong-il. Nowhere in the spread is the USA of any era.
