Marc writes:
Go read Ender's Game. They had a seriously electronic society. There were public message boards, and positive-reputation-based boards. Basically, if you demonstrated a clue on the public boards, then someone already reputable could recommend you for "membership" in the reputation-based boards. One of the characters did so anonymously. She even got paid for writing editorials, etc. Anybody could watch the proceeedings of the reputeable boards. In time, she was competing in debates with major politicians, et. al. Sci-fi? or Reality? I believe we could move from the former to the latter. (And I just avoided any sort of spoiler about the plot ;-)
Exactly! "Ender's Game," by Orson Scott Card, and "True Names," by Vernor Vinge, are the two books I've been recommending since I coined the term "crypto anarchy" in 1987. I held these books up in a couple of talks I gave at BayCon (SF convention) and the Hackers Conference and said "Read these books!" A couple of folks have said that newcomers will never be listened to, will never "get in" to positive reputation systems. This simply isn't true, even with today's "manual" reputation management systems. On the two main lists I subscribe to, this list and the Extropians list (send request to Extropians-request@gnu.ai,mit.edu if interested in future stuff, anarchocapitalism, nanotech, cryonics, etc....about a dozen folks on this list are also on Extropians, I would guess), newcomers start making posts and gradually the list gets to know their name, what to expect of them, etc. This is their "rep." Serious flamers or abusers see their rep torn down. (A list I just joined is the Pynchon list...actually, one of them saw my "W.A.S.T.E. line in my .sig and _invited_ me to join. As a newcomer to that list, I have no reputation. What I say and how reasonably I say it will establish my rep. This is as it should be.) If people want to see the posts and comments of newcomers, even those without extensive history on the list or glowing reps, then they will likely set their "agents" to allow the new stuff through. Lots of variations are possible and will be tried. Think about positive reputations and you'll see them in action all around you...where you shop, what you read, who you associate with, etc. The Net will ultimately be no different. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | PGP Public Key: by arrangement.