From: Blanc <blancw@cnw.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 16:39:22 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: write up AP for FC++
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970928013120.006b0120@cnw.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



More than a month later, James A. Donald responded:

>I see no point in explaining our ideas so thoroughly and repeatedly
>that even cops and politicians start to understand them.
.........................................................


I dont' think where you publish your idea makes as much difference as in
how you present it, based on what attitude and inclinations you reveal
about your motives for the future.

If you are having an abstract discussion which explores the ramifications
of what a new technology makes possible - not only for the good, but for
the bad - it is surely distinguishable from a discussion on who exactly you
dislike and how precisely you are going to hurt them badly with your new,
advanced weapon-tools.

One type of discussion could reveal your perspective and the scope of your
ability to follow ideas to their logical conclusions.  A different
discussion, conversely, could reveal your psychological problems and the
malfunctioning of a disturbed imagination.

Anyone who studies ideas seriously will want to explain their discoveries
to colleagues; it's almost a given that this is so.   I wasn't suggesting
to Tim that he reiterate himself to clueless public authorities for the
purpose of elevating their understanding (although it is a fact that Tim
very often has explained, again and again, the same ideas which he has
posted in the past, until lately he has arrived at the point of merely
referencing himself and his previous contributions to the list.).    I was
making reference to the mistake certain people are making, as he mentioned,
of attributing to Jim Bell the origin of the AP ideas, when Tim's own
extensive exploration of this subject preceded Jim's epiphanies by years.
I was encouraging Tim that presenting his ideas to a physical gathering of
people who are of the mind to consider the impact of these possibilities
upon their business enterprises, would contribute to clarifying the
situation (to some degree - I can't say how or what kind of effect it would
actually have, obviously).

But anyway, James, don't you think it is better to live in an atmosphere of
people who have a clue, rather than otherwise, regardless of their position
in this contradictory world?   

    ..
Blanc