At 6:29 PM -0500 8/26/00, Adam Back wrote: >Tim writes: >> [...] >> >> Untraceable contract killings, crypto anarchy, is about to make >> possible a wave of justice the world has never seen. Forget Bell's >> hoaky, and cumbersome, "betting pool." Easier to simply hire >> assassins untraceably. (If bets can be placed untraceably, contracts >> can be arranged untraceably. Think about it.) > >For the same reason that it's not worth it for an individual to lobby >against some new corporate welfare program or special interest group >making a grab at a mere few $100m, because that translates into too >few cents to that individual, it's not worth discouraging behavior on >an individual basis. The contract is too expensive for the argued >benefit it would transfer. The motivation for spending money always has been simple vengeance. Historically, vengeance is a more powerful motivator than some nebulous idea of effecting social change for the benefit of society as a whole. This is implicit in my points about someone having me committed to a psychiatric facility: having that person killed will not undo their earlier commitment of me, nor will it--in the short term--result in the laws being changed. No, the motivation for having people killed untraceably has always been one of seeing justice done, i.e., vengeance. This is where people will gladly spend $5000 or even much more to see justice done. It beats the hell out of some nebulous scheme to wager pennies or a few dollars to see some far-off dictator maybe be removed, maybe not. What crypto anarchy is is a variant of Protestantism. Martin Luther argued that no intermediary stands between men and their gods. (Ignore how this was corrupted, even in the time of Luther, and a new priesthood emerged.) The priesthood that stands between men and morality is about to be dissolved, with individuals choosing who needs punishment and using untraceable methods to call down death and destruction. Nietzsche would get a kick out of this new disintermediation. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
