From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 94 21:30:48 PDT
To: jamesd@netcom.com (James A. Donald)
Subject: Re: HIT MEN
In-Reply-To: <199409220320.UAA00905@netcom10.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <199409220428.VAA18400@netcom9.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


James Donald writes:

> Illegal betting is merely illegal.  Murder is also immoral.  
> 
> This really does make a difference to reputations.

I'm not persuaded. Reputation is not having a nice feeling, it is
expecting that an agent will act as he is expected to act (not an
exact definition).

To someone who wants to hire a murderer--the NSA's hit teams, for
example--the "reputation" of a potentil hire is his track record,
basically. Reputations are not scalar properties, seen identically by
all persons, but are essentially confidence levels for specific
functions to be peformed, or services to be rendered.

Carlos the Jackal may or may not have deserved his reputation, but it
was his reputation to his potential employers that mattered, not our
moral judgments about the bombs he planted or the planes he hijacked.

--Tim May

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..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
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