At 7:14 PM 4/4/96 -0800, Charles Bell wrote:

On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

...

(Goldwater and Heinlein got it slightly wrong when they said "There ain't no such as a free lunch." While true in many ways, TANSTAAFL ignorest the great willingness of people to donate time, effort, articles, etc. In fact, I've put many thousands of hours into the Cypherpunks list, for which I've received not a single centime of compensation. And I have no problem with this, provided it remains voluntary.)

The fact that you choose not to charge for your time does not make your time worthless. The value your voluntary efforts add should be assigned due compensation even if you choose to waive it.

The failure to take such contributions into account is one of the most serious flaws in all current economic paradigms. I think this will become more apparent in decades to come, as old concepts of `work' and `jobs' obsolesce.

IMHO, another failure is that not all compensation can be expressed in money. Feeling good about making a contribution is an example. Another is the "guaranteed" place in heaven for the suicide bomber. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA