From: Adam Shostack <adam@lighthouse.homeport.org>
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 1996 02:46:39 +0800
To: mccoy@communities.com (Jim McCoy)
Subject: Re: No matter where you go, there they are.
In-Reply-To: <v02140b02ad91db64cd39@[205.162.51.35]>
Message-ID: <199604120314.WAA05634@homeport.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


Jim McCoy wrote:

| And perhaps more importantly, do you really want anyone you connect to
| on the net to know your location to the nearest 10 meters?  What is
| Dennings fascination with building Big Brother?

	She read Snow Crash, and it scared her.

	This is flippiant, but I believe it comes close to the truth,
in that tends to provide a cogent explanation for her political
actions, as I've observed.  (Dorothy-- Since someone will forward this
to you, I'd be fascinated to hear your reactions in public or
private.)

	Snow Crash is a book about a future in which governments are
ineffective.  Companies run things, and have complete local control.
The world has gone to hell, and as a result, life is nasty, poor,
brutish and short.  Many people do not look forward to this world.
Thats an understandable reaction; when I first heard about anonymous
assasination markets, I thought it was pretty bizzare as a world to
look forward to.

	Then I heard Neal Stephenson speak.  And he brought up a very
good point, which was Hitler killed more people than Charles Manson
because Hitler had a big country, and its large army.  I look
forward to smaller, weaker government that can't put the Japs in
holding camps, surround and harras the Branch Davidians, etc.

	The debate, really, boils down to Hobbes v. Locke, or Plato v.
Aristotle.  Its not going to be resolved anytime soon by a
philosopher.  Many of us have read Mill, Hayek, Freidman, Nozick, and
decided that we prefer that world view.  That Dr. Denning has decided
that she likes Philosopher-Kings is not particularly unusual, except
in the computer business.  Go read Leviathan.  Think about what we're
talking about here.

	Its a scary new world that I expect will be created, by the
UNSTOPPABLE advance of technology.  There is no weapon created that is
not used by someone who judges the cause to be worthwhile.  Nukes,
chemicals, and biologicals have all been used against civilian
populations.  I judge that stopping the advance of cryptoanarchist
technology will fail (in the long run), and not be worth the price.  I
suspect Dorothy disagrees, and there lies her fascination with
building in Big Brother.

Adam


-- 
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
					               -Hume