From: mkj@october.ducktown.org
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 94 14:26:28 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: freedom+diversity=noise
Message-ID: <199412192215.RAA04833@october.ducktown.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


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This list appears to be going through some sort of crisis.  Tim May
has quit, others are threatening to quit, and the messages criticizing
the list itself threaten to outnumber those on all other topics!

Frankly, I don't get it.  What's everybody so upset about?  A few
arguments, some bad manners?  Can we afford to be so sensitive?  Now,
I admit I don't read every message posted here (who has the time?),
but I read a fair sampling, and I haven't seen anything half as bad as
what I face every day on the subway.  At least on this list, nobody
has ever pulled a weapon on me!  Personally I don't understand why
some people are so bothered by the noise here and elsewhere on the
nets.  Sticks and stones and all that, you know?

But a number of people here have even suggested that the Cypherpunks
list, at least in its present form, is near the end of its useful
life.  I would like to go on record as strongly DISagreeing with that
suggestion.  Sure, I wish we were making more progress faster, but I
think we are doing better than many of us realize.  The job is not an
easy one, and in my experience, I have found that difficult jobs
demand perseverance above all other virtues.

However, it seems that every time a forum, list, newsgroup or whatever
becomes too popular, it reaches a "critical mass" at which people
start complaining that everything is ruined, and soon thereafter the
forum splinters and/or switches to a moderated format.  Thinking about
the phenomenon, I came up with the following brilliant (ahem)
generalization, which I humbly dub "mkj's law":

                 FREEDOM + DIVERSITY = NOISE

Where "noise" is defined as any behavior(s) which a significant
portion of the group finds undesirable.  The above law appears to
apply not only to network forums, but equally well to other types of
social groups.  (Note for example that mkj's law is inextricably
linked with the old amateur-radio principle, "One Man's Signal is
Another Man's Noise".)

Mkj's law has disturbing implications, in that "noise" (which is
normally considered a Bad Thing) is shown to be an inevitable
consequence of the combination of freedom and diversity (which are
normally considered Good Things).  Mkj's law also states that there
are only two ways to reduce the noise in any group: (1) Crack down on
freedom (impose controls on behavior, the job of police in the
physical realm or moderators/censors in the informational realm); or
(2) Crack down on diversity (usually by restricting group membership,
or perhaps by other means such as strong charismatic leadership).

Note that this "mkj's law" stuff is a first-draft, brand-new idea for
me; I'm not taking a firm position, just soliciting comments.

ObCrypto-Philosophy: Clearly, at the root of the Cypherpunks agenda --
or any pro-privacy agenda -- lies a presumption that freedom and
diversity are Good Things, whereas "noise reducers" like censorship,
prejudice, and intrusive law-enforcement are Bad Things.  I share this
presumption.  But it might be an interesting exercise to ask: If we
can't accept with good grace the current noise on the Cypherpunks
list, how are we going to like real life in a global society where
freedom and diversity have been greatly increased by "crypto-anarchy"?
Will the "global village" fragment into isolationist cliques?  Even
sooner, will the Cypherpunks?

                                    ---  mkj

P.S.  Since I don't recall posting my public key to this list before:

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