-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In Message-Id: <199407312314.QAA16264@netcom4.netcom.com>, Mike Duvos wrote:
No personal attack intended. I am a strong supporter of egalitarian societies with strong social safety nets, and think that youth emancipation will likely be the next big civil rights movement in this country. I am also willing to pay high taxes in order to feel secure that all citizen-units are suitably housed, well-fed, and taken care of. This is entirely self-serving on my part, since it cuts down on social unrest and street crime.
Yet in the present message he observes that
The lesson to be learned here is that societies based on a diffuse "Web of Trust" organization are far less dangerous than those based on a powerful centralized authority. A powerful centralized authority inevitably devolves into interacting with its subjects using the protocol...
Do What We Say Or We'll Kill You!
Or in its more tasteful two-part form...
1. Do What We Say. 2. You're Under Arrest, And If You Resist, We'll Kill You.
At that point, Wars, Wacos, Encryption Bans, and BBS Porno Show trials lurk just around the corner.
Mike Duvos, how I wish I had the time to try to understand how you reconcile these seemingly incompatible sentiments! How can you achieve ``egalitarian societies with strong social safety nets'' without using ``powerful centralized authority''? As a proponent of ``high taxes'', how can you also favor strong cryptography? Do you doubt that expropriating ``high taxes'' from your neighbor will be made more difficult in a world with strong cryptography? In view of the natural diversity among people, how can you achieve an ``egalitarian society'' without someone who says ``Do What We Say Or We'll Kill You!''? John E. Kreznar | Relations among people to be by jkreznar@ininx.com | mutual consent, or not at all. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLj9zc8Dhz44ugybJAQE/fwP/TA+yCerTZk8pH1Gi2yunA0FE8FqKm7i+ Gy8URq3jFOUPYDHy6fkFPsfX8NB404e1eGFFBNx6U0FE360FmYKO7eI+q5dUJ9gE fBLKlQYL/HSGyoPs6P4ZYJxNwY0svCUwOnOTIcVAb2UEHdHlDF+cvsogOFJk3WIy w/9kwSsE20s= =TM1s -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----