(Ironically, I brought up the new book, "The Winner Take All Society," at the last Cypherpunks meeting. No time to discuss it here, but it confirms my strong belief that we are heading for a economy in which a shrinking fraction of workers have really valuable things to contribute, and a growing fraction of the population does not. I had not recalled
This message has some components that may be deemed appropriate for the list, and some that will not; since Dr. May considered it an appropriate topic, I am following his lead. However, feel free to take it to private email. From: IN%"tcmay@got.net" 18-JAN-1996 08:09:37.98 the authors, but Strick had a battery-powered laptop and Metricom wireless modem, and ran an Alta Vista search from where he was sitting: ROBERT FRANK & PHILIP COOK, The Winner-Take-All Society, New York: The Free Press.) ---------------------------- You might also find Robert Reich's _The Work of Nations_ interesting. He divides jobs up into Routine Producers (factory-line workers), In-Person Servers (McDonald's clerks), and Symbolic Analysts (innovative programmers, scientists, etcetera). His analysis does have some problems. He views the growing lack of Routine Producer jobs in the US as due to their export to low-wage countries; I would add automation as another cause. He also makes the error of regarding education as the primary (or even only) difference between those qualified for various jobs, completely ignoring IQ's genetic component. His policy suggestions for taking care of what he (incorrectly) believes is a problem are also ridiculous. ----------------------------- From: IN%"alano@teleport.com" "Alan Olsen" 19-JAN-1996 00:00:39.70
I have seen a number of posts on "Cypherpunk Elitism". I have seen more examples of it here on the list.
I think that this attitude will be more destructive to the list than noise in the long run. It has been said that "Cypherpunks write code". They must do more than that. Cypherpunks need to teach. All the cryptotools in the world are of no use if no one knows how to use them. (Or know how to use them correctly.) All of the protocols are of no use if no one knows how to impliment them correctly or WHY they need them in the first place. There are a lot of bogus security methods. Many of them exist because people do not know better. Without someone to instruct them in the ways of these things, they will continue to go on with bad crypto, not knowing any better. Not all of the non-cypherpunks are beyond hope. Many of them are teachable. If we leave them to flounder on their own, cryptography will be something used only by an elite. It will be of little or no threat to the powers that be because only a small amount of people will have the ability to use it. The TLAs will have less encrypted trafic to sort through. They will have won a big battle, not through force of arms but force of egos. ---------------------------- Part of this depends on the size of the "small number of people," and on whom those people are. If a hundred people are using the remailernet, governments can trace messages (and can easily shut the down). If a million people are using it, governments cannot trace messages nearly as easily, and there will be more protest if it is shut down. If the people who are needed for a society to function are in that group, then a government would need to be suicidal to attack them; these people can also much more easily leave for another country. If those with the most income to lose via income taxes are those who are using fully anonymous ecash, then most of the government's unneeded revenue goes away. In other words, while teaching about cryptography is important... certain people are more worth teaching than others. This fact is analogous to that certain people will be more competent after college than others. Such qualities as intellectual ability, income, and position make some people more worth convincing than others. Incidentally, there is a mailing list for the discussion (and promotion) of intellectual Elitism. Its Draft FAQ (including directions for signing on) is at http:/ils.unc.edu/~vreer/elitefaq. (The list in question is unfortunately currently more disorganized than cypherpunks). More information can also be found at http://weber.u.washington.edu/~lfletch/elitism.html and http://ils.unc.edu/~vreer/elitism.html. -Allen