Kevin S. vanHorn wrote...
Likewise with governments. I still need my trash taken out, and for potholes to be fixed.
What makes you think government is needed at all for these? My trash is taken out by a private company, not by any government. And privately built and maintained roads have existed for a very long time.
Of course. But you've got to read further into my post to see the point. I'm thinking that in the future, some aspects of government might be competitive with the private sector to obtain public $$$, much like the US mail now competes with UPS and FedEx. Like in Stephenson's Snow Crash, many functions might be opt-in, including possibly war.... For instance, imagine where budget items are voted on directly, and regularly by voters. Would IraqII have occurred? (I bet not.) (My Jazz musician brother has suggested that "you should be able to vote any elected official directly into jail, no questions asked".) But my point is that heavy crypto will probably have unforseeable effects on the notion of the state, probably not wipe it out. -TD _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail