From: Bianca <bianca@dev.null>
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 15:33:34 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: InfoWar 15 (Part III of 'The True Story of the InterNet')
Message-ID: <34237937.120B@dev.null>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html

Title: The True Story of the Internet Part II









The True Story of the InterNet

Part III


InfoWar

Final Frontier of the Digital Revolution

Behind the ElectroMagnetic
Curtain


by TruthMonger <tm@dev.null>




Copyright 1997 Pearl Publishing



InfoWar Table of Contents

The Real Problem 
The Problem Within The Problem


The Real Problem


Subject: Re: Taxless society concerns
From: ? the Platypus {AKA David Formosa} <dformosa@st.nepean.uws.edu.au>

Reply-To: platypus@acmeonline.net
To: snow <snow@smoke.suba.com>
CC: Warpy <warpy@sekurity.org>, cypherpunks@toad.com

x-url: http://www.st.nepean.uws.edu.au/~dformosa/Spelling.html

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
On Thu, 11 Sep 1997, snow wrote:
[...]
> > How is such care going to be payed for? 

> Well, if their family/children do it, they will pay necessary
costs.
> Otherwise I guess they will just have to save up for it.

What about orfins? I dout thay would be able to save up money,
what
about thouse whos emplyers where not willing to pay them more
then what is
needed to live to the next week?
~~ 
Please excuse my spelling as I suffer from agraphia see the url
in my header. 
Never trust a country with more peaple then sheep. ex-net.scum
and proud
You Say To People "Throw Off Your Chains" And They Make
New Chains For
Themselves? --Terry Pratchett

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The Real Guy didn't know why this particular post to the CypherPunks
mailing list had caught his eye. It was a pretty basic example
of some of the anarchist versus realist banter that was traded
on the list from time to time.

Perhaps what caught his eye was that this post was one of the
dying remnants of a fading civilization, and it was interspersed
among a number of posts aligning with a rapidly approaching future.
This short, seemingly inconsequential post to the CypherPunks
list somehow appeared in his mind to be representative of a problem
that he had been working over in his mind lately, trying to get
a handle on it-to define it.
To define what he suspected was the real problem...


That's why he had changed his online persona from ? the Lunatic
to "The Real Guy." To remind himself of his new direction.

It was impossible, he knew, to define once and for all time, what
the ever-present, nefarious "problem" was. It was like
the Tao, always flowing, always changing. But he suspected that
perhaps this, in itself, might actually be the real problem.

Then again, perhaps not...since it didn't seem to be a problem
for the CypherPunks' Philosopher King; the one he called the Grouchy
Old CypherPunk.

The King of Philosophical Grouchiness changed the signature-line
in his email as the problems facing society and the weathervane
CypherPunks changed.
Lately, he had been changing it with increasing frequency, and
this made The Real Guy very, very nervous. (He had watched a tornado
forming one time, from its very center, and its chief creative
feature seemed to be, not the particular direction the wind was
changing to, but the increasing frequency of the change.)

Perhaps The Real Guy was on the wrong track, here, giving so much
thought to what seemed to be just an everyday, normal post to
a mailing list which had no shortage of strange, lengthy rants
about everything imaginable, no matter how weird or far-out it
may have been. He suspected, however, that the real reason most
people watched a television news program of the day, called '60
Minutes,' was because they were waiting to hear what the 'regular'
guy had to say. The Real Guy thought of him as a 'regular' guy,
not because he was on the show regularly, but because he was like
real people; he was a 'real' guy, himself.
The Regular Guy at the end of the program was always talking about
real problems that regular, everyday people experienced
every single day of their life.
He was kind of like a Grouchy Old CypherPunk who dealt with everyday
stuff instead of stuff that was going to change the world practically
overnight...maybe.

When The Real Guy read the post by snow and ? the Platypus, he
couldn't help but envision them still discussing who was responsible
for the orphans far into the future, right up to the point when
the darkly clad, heavily armed Storm Troopers broke down their
doors and burst into their houses.
He could see them, in his mind's eye, and hear them, in his mind's
ear, as they politely asked the armed intruders who they
thought would "take care of the orfins" in an anarchist,
taxless society. [Bang!] He could see them sink slowly
to their knees, in pain, holding their stomachs, as their blood
flowed rapidly out of their bodies, and they spoke the last words
that would inevitably prove to be the last words of a multitude
of CypherPunks spread across the face of the globe as the forces
of fascist dictatorships hunted them down and deleted their signature
files upon this celestial orb: "Then I guess that a blow-job
is completely out of the question....aaarrrrggghhh!"
<thud>

The Real Guy shook himself out of his reverie and realized that
Dimitri Vulis' evil influence on him had perhaps been more than
he had previously thought.
Turning back to the task at hand, he thought about the many definitions
of the problem, (AKA the real problem) that he had
come across, over the course of his lifetime, and how each of
them may have been appropriate for the time and circumstances
to which they were meant to apply.
Perhaps the eternal problem had to do with addressing the latest,
greatest version of the real problem, whatever that might
be. There was no doubt that the Dark Forces had their minions
creating new, improved problems at an increasingly fast rate as
the end of the millennium approached. As well, their human compatriots
had mastered the art of devising systems which ensured that by
the time any specific 'problem' had traveled through the government
and societal systems of laws, regulations and mores, that any
'solution' reached would be long outdated and meaningless.

Subject: Re: politics aren't all or nothing (fwd)
From: Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>
To: cypherpunks@ssz.com (Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer)

Tim May wrote:
> Democracy is the problem, not the solution.

A democracy which doesn't respect its limits of power is the problem.
This
has always been the problem with all forms of governments and
will continue
to be the problem with all forms of government (even anarchy).

People are people, people are strange; it isn't a question of
technology [1] or time.
[1] Governments are a form of technology.

The solution is people taking more direct and immediate action
in the first
person. Always has been, always will be.
Irrespective of all the spin-doctor protestations to the contrary
not
withstanding.

Governments are governed by the 3 laws of thermodynamics just
like
everything else:
You can't get ahead
You can't break even
You can't quit the game

The failing with the founding fathers is that there were not enough

amendments in the Bill of Rights explicitly listing citizen rights
and
federal duties and limits in the first place. THAT is the problem
with
our government today: even the harshest critics of their day trusted
a
federal government too much.
__________________________________________________


|_________________________________________________
|
| The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there___|


| be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.___
|
|_________________
-Alan Greenspan-__________________
| 
| ______The
Armadillo Group__________________________|

| ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA_____________________________|

| /:'///// ``::>/|/ http:// www.ssz.com/
______________________|
| .', |||| `/( e\__________________________________________|

| -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate___________________
|
| ravage@ssz.com____________________________________|

| 512-451-7087______________________________________|

|__________________________________________________|


The Real Guy thought about Choate's statement: "The solution
is people taking more direct and immediate action in the first
person."
He had no doubt that Choate's definition of the real
problem ("with our government today") was no more right
nor wrong than many of the other definitions proffered on the
CypherPunks list, as well as throughout history, but he sensed
that perhaps Choate's stated 'solution' came startlingly close
to what would ultimately prove to be the real solution
to the troubles that were rapidly swamping the ship of freedom
in this era of human and societal evolution.

Which led to 'the problem within the problem.'

And The Real Guy had no idea what that was...



The Problem Within The Problem


"To him who does what within him lies, God will not deny
his grace."
- Saint Thomas Aquinas 

Bubba Rom Dos brought the quote to the screen, pleased with himself
for having provided the solution to The Real Guy's question.

"That is the 'problem within the problem?'" Alexis
asked the grizzled sage, looking puzzled.

"No, no. Of course not, my dear. 
"That," he said, pointing to the quote,
"is the 'solution within the solution.'"

The Cowboy laughed loudly at this statement, turning to Bubba
and suggesting, "You've been watching the Steve Allen
TV shows again, haven't you, Bubba?"
He turned to the others, to explain his veiled reference.
"Steve Allen was a kind of early TV Taoist who had a way
of turning things on their ear, as the saying was back then. While
some TV shows would give the answers to questions sent in by their
viewers, he would have his viewers send him their answers, to
which he would then provide the appropriate question."

"Thirty-six, twenty-four, thirty six." Bubba
called out his answer.

"What were the ages of the Three Musketeers?" the
Cowboy responded with the appropriate question.

Priscilla, Alexis and Jonathan gave each other desperate looks,
knowing that they were about to be subjected to the mad ramblings
of a drunken tag-team of self-proclaimed world saviors, as they
attempted to draw the others into yet another of their "insane,
inane, falling mainly in the plain" bumbling and stumbling
attacks on intellect, rationality and proper decorum.

"OK, I'll bite." Jonathan was the first to speak.
"But, since we already know that your solution is insane,
why don't you give us the proof of its applicability to
the 'problem within the problem' and let us..."
he motioned to himself and the ladies, "divine the
real problem, and the 'problem within the problem?'"

"Fair enough!" said the Cowboy, motioning for
Bubba to begin.

Bubba threw up a quote on the GraphiScreen from Julian Jaynes'
"The Evolution of Consciousness in the Breakdown of Bicameral
Mind."
"Why is it that in our daily lives we cannot get up above
ourselves to authorize ourselves into being what we really wish
to be?
"So that behavior flows from decision...so that whatever
in us it is that refers to a 'will' stands master and captain
over action?"

The Cowboy grinned and turned to the three 'contestants' in this
lighthearted parody of a variety of bad game shows of the era
they were dealing with.
"This is the question which indicates the results of the
problem and the solution to the problem, but what is the problem?"

He left the challenge of answering his question to the three
participants, pushing his bottle of Jim Beam into the center of
the table to indicate the reward for a proper reply.

Without hesitating, Alexis scrolled through the work on the screen,
knowing that, in all likelihood, Jaynes had addressed the problem
in an adjoining passage. She reached for the bottle and poured
herself, Priscilla and Jonathan a shot, as she highlighted:
"We are learned in self-doubt, scholars of our very failures,
geniuses at excuse and tomorrowing our resolves. We become practiced
in powerless resolution until hope gets undone and dies in the
unattempted.
"And then to rise above this noise of knowledge and really
change ourselves, we need an authorization that 'we' do
not have."

Bubba and the Cowboy had grinned from ear to ear when Priscilla
had reached forward with the tip of her finger, to highlight the
last of the sentence.
"Precisely!" they agreed, in unison.

"The problem," Jonathan posited, "was
that, leading up to the end of the millennium, the advances in
technology and education were designed by those behind the scenes
to give the appearance of empowerment to the individuals within
the authority of the group." Jonathan wasn't quite sure
just what he was trying to get at, so he turned to the women for
help.

"Democracy, mass-production, elections, free schooling,
public works..." Priscilla was making a 'set' of something...she
wasn't sure of what, however.

Alexis thought for a moment, and jumped in, saying, "At
the same time, the study of human psychology was entering an era
where the existence and power of the subconscious was being recognized
and exploited.
"Hypnosis, brain-washing, advertising, spin doctoring..."

"Group mind!" all of those gathered around the
table spoke as if in a single voice.

"Little boxes on the hillside, and they're all made out
of ticky-tacky. And they all look like boxes, little boxes just
the same." Priscilla sang a lilting tune attributed to
a singer named Joni Mitchell of that general era.

"The tyranny of the masses!" Jonathan shouted
out, excited at remembering this phrase from long childhood nights
spent perusing posts to the original CypherPunks mailing list.

"The printing press, factories, fashions, all moving society
toward a world in which the yoke of serfdom was apparently being
thrown off the necks of the peasants, as kings and rulers fell
by the wayside in the name of democracy and freedom.
"But the Iron Hand of the monarchy, the priest and the dictator
was replaced by the Steel Jaws of social mores and public opinion."

Alexis nodded, adding, "They overthrew a higher authority
only to fall prey to becoming a cog in the creation and machinations
of a group authority."
She struggled to understand what it was she was trying to
put her finger on, saying, "They merely replaced one authority
with another which they perceived to be a lighter burden because
it more closely fit their wants and needs at the time."

"The problem," Jonathan interrupted, excitedly,
"was that, rather than seizing the mantle of authority
over themselves and accepting responsibility for the life and
their actions, they merely moved it from the hands of a small
few, into the hands of the group."

"And the 'problem within the problem,'" Alexis
continued, "was that right and wrong, good and evil, knowledge
and wisdom, was still not by virtue of their own authority, any
more than it was when they were ruled by kings and priests."

Bubba and the Cowboy nodded at each other, agreeing that their
challenge had been met in a remarkably astute manner.
"So the problem was that they moved from monarchy and
plutocracy to democracy and..." the Cowboy left the
question hanging in the air.

Jonathan, for the first time in his life, felt like he finally
understood why the CypherPunks stood at a nadir point in history
during the early years of the creation and propagation of the
CypherPunks mailing list. He slowly intoned,
"...and failed to move onward...to anarchy."

Copyright "TruthMonger <bianca@dev.null>

"And I can cook, too..."



"The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre"

"WebWorld & the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs"

"InfoWar (Part III of 'The True Story of the InterNet')

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