ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes:
Actually, here in Oklahoma almost everyone has a gun (not that they use them though, but many carry). Incidentally, everyone including most down to earth truckers is exceedingly polite. When I went to NYC first time, I was shocked how less polite people were in comparison with Oklahomans.
Are the folks in Flushing, NY or around Avenue of the Americas allowed to possess firearms? :)
I'm not quite in Flushing, but: it's possible to keep one at home, but a carry licence is impossible.
Russians in Russia are even less polite, and guns are outlawed.
Russians in Russia are very polite to boys wearing leather and riding BMW's. New Yorkers are sometimes polite to black men wearing lots of gold jewelry. Maybe they suspect something.
Maybe your hint really makes sense and after initial depopulation the citizens will use different, more considerate, ways of dealing with each other.
I think it would take very few 'depopulation' incidents to improve manners. Humans, like rats, are very good at learning from others' mistakes.
Or, alternatively, maybe people will hide behind anonymity most of the time to avoid becoming vistims of jimbell's clearinghouse. Really, it is very hard to assasssinate username@alpha.c2.org, although it is possible to hire nyms to write programs and pay them hard earned digicash.
There are some very interesting discussions in Bruno Solnik's book I mentioned about the worth of anonymity v. reputation in financial markets. I wonder if it would be possible for government officials to hide behind anonymity. Everyone will hate a certain gov't official, but no one will know who s/he is?
If we think about anonymous computer contractors and anonymous employers, the interesting question is how to maintain reputations and how to check references.
That's an interesting question - want to think about a protocol? --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps