From: ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home)
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 19:31:41 +0800
To: jimbell@pacifier.com (jim bell)
Subject: Re: "Termination"?
In-Reply-To: <199606180422.VAA03104@mail.pacifier.com>
Message-ID: <199606180432.XAA25307@manifold.algebra.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


jim bell wrote:
> 
> At 07:54 PM 6/17/96 -0400, s1113645@tesla.cc.uottawa.ca wrote:
> >
> >
> >On Sat, 8 Jun 1996 ichudov@algebra.com wrote:
> >
> >> Since corrupt officials are likely to have more anonymous cash that
> >> phreedom phighters, guess who will win.
> 
> Remember, Chudov was wrong about this.  It's not just the amount of money 
> you have, it's whether you can identify people as your "enemies."

Well, why. If I were a corrupt politician, I'd start with exterminating
all posters to Cypherpunks, starting with you (with exception of a
couple of people). 

As a Russian, I can see that you lack the feeling of proper scale when
you think about exterminations. This is forgivable since you have never
seen them. There is no need to exercise any discretion or even fairness
if you have enough cash and a good assassination clearinghouse.

I'd also set up a number of fake clearinghouses and assassinate those
who provide *your* clearinghouse with anonymous services (if your 
clearinghouse is run anonymously).

> >I still think assassination politics is self-terminating.
> 
> It would probably be more accurate to say that it is "self-limiting."  

I think that it is a fine idea and a neat experiment (Russians love
such experiments, you know), but it will go way farther than you think.

Again, many governments would appreciate the nice opportunity to reach 
their political goals by assassination means.

> Think back to integral calculus, where the area under an infinitely long 
> curve may be finite.  If we think of X as being time, and the rate of deaths 
> as the height of the curve above Y=0, the total number of deaths is 
> reflected in the area.  Some death rate schedules will integrate to a 
> finite, limited number of deaths.  Even if reality doesn't quite approach 
> this optimum situation, it MAY approach a much better reality where the 
> eventual rate of deaths is far lower than the status quo.

There are some interesting people who do not like spending hard earned
$$ on clothes, heated water pools, and Bentleys. They'd rather prefer
the fun of seeing their neighbors disappear and their families terrified.

Number of such people won't really decline over time.

	- Igor.