prisoners dilemma,
mattd
mattd at useoz.com
Sat Dec 22 05:10:02 PST 2001
Subject: Re: prisoners dilemma,trapped in a privatised prison hellhole.
>>Yes, but the bigger they are the shorter they survive. It's sort of like
'virtual particles'. For a given energy level they can exist for only so
long. <<
Que? Bigger what are? Stable states of anarchy? Lets create a global one
and synchronize our watches.Wheres your cite's?
>>I think the goal is to build a society that is long lived and intrudes
on the affairs of the individual a minimal amount.
In "age of empires?"trad anarchist theory?Situationalism?Cypherpunks
list?On this list anarcho-capitalism or libertarianism is often said to be
the goal-a quote on that from Salon..."No libertarian state, after all, has
ever existed in the world. (America, incessantly denounced by libertarians
as a Great Satan of regulation, is, ironically but not surprisingly, much
closer to being that free state than any other developed nation.) This
gives libertarianism a futuristic allure that resonates with high-tech
visionaries -- but it also raises suspicions that the whole thing is a pipe
dream, a vaporous, almost psychotically elaborate "system" that resembles
an elaborate science fiction alternate universe, or that plan labored on by
Swift's Lagadan "projector" for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers. When
something has never been attempted, it may be because mankind has not
evolved sufficiently -- or it may be because it can't be. (Of the
libertarian belief that all social difficulties would vanish if a perfectly
free market system could be established, the Burkean conservative Russell
Kirk wrote, "This was very like saying that if only the Sermon on the Mount
were universally obeyed to the letter, sin would vanish from among men. The
trouble is that the Sermon on the Mount will not triumph until the end of
all things earthly. There exist reasons for believing that the ideal
universal free market is nearly so difficult of attainment.")
Libertarianism's cold, Platonic perfectionism arouses suspicions. (Plato's
Republic, like the libertarian utopia, is divided hierarchically -- and
it's a safe bet that few libertarians believe that when the great Free
Market Future dawns they will find themselves shoveling coal in the Race of
Iron Steel Mill.) There is something lab-coaty about this philosophy,
something that conjures up images of '50s scientists with wire-rimmed
glasses and crew cuts: "3:05. We removed all governmental controls.
Seventeen subjects died of malnutrition. Three became wealthy. Plague broke
out in the southwest quadrant. The experiment continued without further
incident."
AP? Id like to hear Jim's opinion.Jim Bell that is.I repeat...Possible to
have smuggled posts from former list members published? Several > books
have been written this way. > Information does want to be free. >
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