From: rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga)
Date: Sun, 19 Nov 1995 11:29:05 +0800
To: davidm@iconz.co.nz
Subject: Re: Anonymity and Intellectual Capital
Message-ID: <v02120d03acd44a063fd4@[199.0.65.105]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



>I suggest that arbitration is well suited to
>pseudonymous commerce, and  propose the use of an old device - the
>unincorporated, or deed of settlement, company.


First of all, this is a damn fine post. Outstanding!

The first thing that strikes me about all this is how time seems to be
"unwinding" as far as centralization of power, or anything else, is
concerned.

I've ranted about all this here and elsewhere, how falling semiconductor
prices, public networks and strong cryptography beget the reemergence of
bearer certificates, this time in digital form (of which ecash is only the
prima facie example, the existence proof) and what I call, for lack of a
better term, a "geodesic", instead of hierarchical, economy.

We're seeing in this "unincorporated company" idea the devolution, the
surfacting, of concentrations of information, and thus power, back out to
individuals, and with that, responsibility, and of course, freedom.

Truly marvelous. Hope there's more where that one came from.

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga





-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com)
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA (617) 958-3971
"Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell
The e$ Home Page: http://www.webstuff.apple.com/~vinnie/Rah
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