Tim May writes:
I'd take everyone involved in blocking Wingspread, the project, and have them hanged for stealing Ry Kelley's property. I figure killing the 50 or 70 major culprits would send a message. Cryptoanarchy will someday mean the millions who need to be punished for their crimes will in fact be punished and converted into fertilizer, soap, lampshades, and other things which can be sold to partially pay for their crimes.)
How exactly will cryptoanarchy accomplish this? Millions will be killed, and their remains used in this way? Please spell out the details. Cryptoanarchy could reduce the revenues available to government (but they could still lay taxes on visible physical property like land - a victory for the Georgeists after all). It could allow people to traffic in forbidden information goods, to make untraceable payments. It's possible there could be an increase in crimes like the ones you support, but those will still involve activity in the physical world. Assuming that human nature remains constant, people will still support the same general policies that we see today. There will not be widespread general support for turning millions into lampshades, any more than there is in the present world. How could a few disaffected cranks cause millions to be murdered? And even supposing that this can be accomplished, what about other people unhappy with the state of things? What will stop radical Greens from using the tools of cryptoanarchy to further their own violent goals, anonymously executing people for developing their own land? Mr. Kelley above might have faced far worse if he had proceeded with "Wingspread" under a framework of widespread cryptoanarcy. Instead of being shut down and harmed financially, he could have been tortured and murdered. But there is no evidence that cryptoanarchy will grant so much power for violence to an angry minority. The physical world will still exist, governments can function there based on taxing physical goods, and they will deter crime and punish criminals just as they do today. The true nature of cryptoanarchy is fundamentally peaceful. It offers an opportunity for people to interact in a world and framework where physical coercion is impossible. It points to a new form of wealth and value, which is built on richness of information and connectivity, rather than physical wealth. Neal Stephenson was prophetic in his vision of Hiro Protagonist living a simple, anonymous, almost barren life in the physical world while engaging in online activities of superlative excitement and power. This is the world which cryptoanarchy makes possible, a world of peace and fulfillment, not the dark, twisted and violent picture you conjure up in your sickening revenge fantasies.