At 3:50 PM -0700 6/4/97, Paul Bradley wrote:
Like my fellow Santa Clara County Resident Bill Frantz said :
For cypherpunks this comes down to: Make code, not bombs.
True, code will lead to further liberation in the virtual communities, but bombs are an effective device for ending the corrupt tyrannical government that rules us.
It is my contention that, in the present circumstances, bombs are not effective devices for ending the corrupt tyrannical government which rules us. They are much more likely to make enemies for "our cause" than they are to physically stop the government. Does the phrase, "Bomb throwing anarchist" give you the feeling of hero, or of villain? Most people will answer villain, and killing people is not likely to change their minds. Anyone head of Non-Violent Action (NVA) ? Seems to me writing and disseminating Code is a pretty effective form of NVA Peter Nicol Global Media Magnet nicol@iap.net.au 019 111 943 "Nonlinear models differ form linear ones in a number of ways. Rather than trying to figure out all the chains of causality, the modeler looks for nodes where feedback loops join and tries to capture as many of the important loops as possible in the system's "picture." Rather than shaping the model to make a forecast about future events or to exercise some central control, the nonlinear modeller is content to perturb the model, trying out different variations in order to learn about the system's critical points and its homeostasis (resitance to change). The modeler is not seeking to control the complex system by quantifying it and mastering its causality; she wants to increase her "intuitions" about how the system works so she can interact with it more harmoniously."