December 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

: Re: Real capitalism falling down drunk
by mattd 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

jamesd... "Money in the US was largely privately issued until 1915. Capitalism long predates government monopolies of money. The word dollar comes from thaler, which a government stamped ounce of silver -- but stamped by a minor government very far away, one of many such stamping authorities." Very interesting,relevant, not much,but fascinating.Can we talk of e-money replacing the present shared hallucination now? "The state is the enemy of property, not the source. Property rights in the means of production not only continued to exist without state support, where the state was absent, they invariably continued to exist in the face of massive bloody state violence aimed at crushing those rights. Always, those seeking to crush those rights had to escalate far beyond what they expected, then escalate the violence even further." Whatever the state is,its the enemy,right james?The biggest state at present is the US.There seems to some bad socialism creeping into the way airlines and others are being handled.The point I keep trying to make is the state is the guarantor of exploitive,authoritarian capitalism and anarchy esp crypto anarchy is the best way to fight that.Anarchy not libertarian party Kool-aid.Can we talk about this more at the airport bar? Aussi beer is the best.mattd.

2 1

Moving beyond "Reputation"--the Market View of Reality
by Tim May 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

For many years some of us have argued strongly for "reputation" as a core concept. Someone, perhaps even one of our own, even coined the phrase "reputation capital." Reputation is an easily understandable concept which explains a lot about how imperfect protocols in the real world nevertheless "work." I won't go into what reputation is, even as defined by folks like us. But there are many aspects of reputation which lead to problems: 1. The assumption that an agent or actor possesses a "reputation." A kind of scalar number attached to a person, a bank, an institution, or even a nym. 2. When in fact different people have different assessments of some agent's reputation. Thus suggesting strongly that reputation is not something attached as simply as above. 3. All of the nonsense about how "Alice's reputation has been harmed," deriving from the faulty notion of this scalar property attached to Alice. Aren't we stuck with reputation? No, a broader ontology of objects and beliefs about them is a better way to go. The "reputation of the dollar" is related to my belief, and the belief of billions of others around the planet, that for whatever reason a piece of paper with the right markings on it will in fact be accepted by billions of others, by millions of small banks and moneychangers, and even by the U.S. Government. And the related belief that loans, IOUs, promissory notes, bonds, and numerous other instruments denominated in these "dollars" will very likely be accepted or exchanged, blah blah, by millions or billions of other actors. Such is not the case with Monopoly money or even with E-gold. Thus, what is the "reputation of the dollar"? Is it because of foolproof anti-forgery measures? Is it because of the laws of the U.S.? Etc.? No, it is a kind of collective hallucination. Before James Donald freaks out and cites Objectivist arguments that Some Things Are Real, etc., let me point out that "collective hallucination" is mostly a cute phrase. In actuality, our perception of reality is more than just an opium dream. Empiricism, falsifiability, Popper, all that good stuff. But our monetary system is vastly less provably real than the world of atoms and stars is. Because money is fundamentally about bets on the future: will something be exchanged for something else, will governments support what they print, what will the dollar be worth in 5 years, etc. All crypto is economics. All money is based on belief. All a matter of "betting," of risk/benefit analysis. Related concepts, of course. Even slightly flawed protocols still "work," given the right embeddings in other systems. (For example, a common flaw cited with remailers is that if there is not enough cover traffic, traceability still exists. But exactly the same flaw exists with money: try getting untraceability with coins if only a few coins exist. Ditto for bearer bonds. Ditto for lots of things where the "protocol fails for small N" but works reasonably well--in the "betting" sense--when a lot of actors are trading a lot of coins and currency. The value of a monetary token is NOT something that is determined by precise mathematical protocols. It's a value based on _belief_ or _expectation_ about the behaviors of other actors, and about the future. Currency suspected of being counterfeit may sell for 10 cents on the dollar, to a sophisticated buyer, while currency suspected of being legit may or may not sell for at or near face value. (Even perfectly legit currency would sell at a discount in large quanties, probably, because a buyer would be a money launderer. Hence the discount for risk. That is, a market decision based on the obvious tradeoffs.) Back to reputations. Seen as part of a larger ecology of a "market construction of reality," there are no fixed or absolute values, no fixed or absolute truths. Some assertions are "many nines" likely to be true, and some are even constructed to be true (*) (* As in "2 + 2 = 4," though the streetwise person who says "What's the trick?" is realizing that even "known to be true" assertions may not be true, as in base 3. Magicians and con men have known this for a long time.) Thus, there is no fixed "reputation" of either a person, an idea, or a unit of value. Everything is a matter of belief, of expectation... Instead of an ontology of objects and their attached methods and property lists, including "reputations" and "monetary values," we should be thinking in terms of these objects as just other actors, with each actor maintaining his own internal model of "possible worlds" (how he thinks the other actors will behave, what he thinks may be future outcomes, what his own goals and expectations are). Seen this way, there is no "reputation" or "value" that is universal. Everything is relative. Everything is seen through the light of internal states/possible worlds. This is the market view of reality. There is no "Reality." Just ensembles of actors, various facets, incomplete knowledge...all lubricated by betting. Every street kid knows this. Digital money is just one facet of this worldview. --Tim May "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -- Nietzsche

18 50

Monkeywrenching airport security
by keyser-soze＠hushmail.com 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

Walk into an airport in baggy pants with powdered expolosives in a leg bag which can slowly be dispersed as you walk (perhaps controlled by some sort of string control like POWs scattered excavated soil in "The Great Escape"). After walking around in the lobby it should soon be tracked to the security checkpoints and interfere with any current swab or automated detection methods.

7 6

aussi view of Guy Fawkes day,
by mattd 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

This was a big deal when I was a little rascal.We lived in the bush and the bonfires were enormous. It got turned into bunger night with massive sales of fireworks.The 2penny bunger was a miniature stick of dynamite. With the inevitable mayhem and the rise of the nanny staters and safety nazis its all gone now yet some still praise Guy Fawkes as 'the only person to enter parliment with honest intentions.'

1 0

RUSSIAN POLICE ARREST GANG TRYING TO SELL URANIUM
by !Dr. Joe Baptista 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

Russian police say they have arrested seven members of an organized crime gang after they tried to sell about one kilogram of uranium to undercover officers. FULL STORY: http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/12/06/uranium011206 ... and only a few days ago we were discussing this sort of thing. Fancy that. I would be interested to know if american broadcasters pick this up. There is not much detail in the story. They failed to report what type of uranium it was - U-235? If anyone has more details on this please advise. regards joe baptista -- Joe Baptista http://www.dot-god.com/ The dot.GOD Registry, Limited

1 0

Re: CJ sent you a Yahoo! Greeting,
by mattd 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

Seen at www.indymedia.org ...Tora Tora Tora! (english) by AP International 8:15am Fri Dec 7 '01 The day that japan pluckily fought back against vicious US colonialist hegemony was marked by an urgent highly classified warning to all americans in or travelling to the Pacific reigon. A top secret urgent warning flash went out to all US embassies in the greater pacific this morning. Laska jihad and moro rebels have agents disguised and well infiltrated as 'sleepers'in all the major hotels frequented by american tourists.On a as yet undetermined signal they will attack and kill as many americans as they can. The advisories are being unencrypted and prepared for public release as soon as a way to do so without unnecersarily alarming them is found. US business interests are getting advance warning and have been asked to obtain as much information for the updated echelon op-centre as they can. The fact US govt contracts will be awarded on the basis of cooperation with the outer homeland defence shield is said by a spokesman for the state dept to be,"not strictly correct". Much of the assets of US govt interests are being withdrawn from the most dangerous countries and being replaced with 'drone' hardware and freshly written classified software.Millions,even billions is being spent to support US business interests in this new battle and the president has assured his contributors that "there will be no more Enrons,not while Im alive" The vice president concurred from his bunker,adding that he's looking forward to receiving the heart of a transgenetic pig "soon,real soon" clark cristoff for AP.

1 0

The Age of Paine Revisited,
by mattd 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

How about revisiting the age of Douglas."power concedes nothing without the demand" We demand digital cash and will defend it with assasination politics.

1 0

Masks to be illegal in U.K.
by Major Variola (ret) 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

Removal of disguises data fodder for CCTV Clause 93 would insert a new section 60AA into the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. It would allow police to remove any facial coverings or disguises in a specified area for 24 hours following the order of a senior police officer. There is no provision for sensitivity regarding religious articles. http://www.blagged.freeserve.co.uk/ta2000/atcsbill.htm ----- What do you expect from a spongy-brained sheeple that tolerates laws prohibiting ownership of information?

2 1

codetalkers get some press
by David Honig 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

Last night the local SoCal TV news had some Navajo codetalkers on the tube, and (today? weekend?) they will be feted at a parade. Supposedly hollywood will be milking their accomplishments in a movie soon. All part of Pearl Harbor (tm) hoo-hah.

2 1

U.S. Department of Interior Ordered Offline
by mattd 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

To stop hackers,yeah right. Nowt to do with wackenhut,casolero,octopus and the dominican echelon. "To see father sky without planes for one day,(9-11) That was a beautiful thing,for an old man,"said one tribal elder.

1 0