At 5:01 PM 10/9/95, Lucky Green wrote:

Correct, Blanc. That's why I am saving my pennies to buy an AR-15. I know the government of the near future will not be in a position to stand in the way of my involuntary participation in organ transplant experiments. It will be up to the individual and voluntary neighborhood associations, etc. to provide our personal security.

While I don't want to comment on AR-15s and the possible need for them, this being a strong cryptography group, this is a good time to mention to newcomers to the list that the book "Snow Crash," by Neal Stephenson, offers a wickedly satirical look at a possible future for America. (Other books of interest include: Vernor Vinge's "True Names," David Friedman's "The Machinery of Freedom," Hakim Bey's "TAZ," Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game," Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," and John Brunner's "The Shockwave Rider.") One of the reasons I advocate having a minimal set of laws and then strongly enforcing them is that having too many laws makes enforcement of the _important_ laws very difficult. Having too many laws, such as the laws about what one can do with one's own money (chillingly recounted this morning by Doug Barnes in his trip report), also blurs the lines between what is really criminal and what it is not. It's clear that cops cannot protect people, only try to catch the perpetrators. In certain demographic groups, 30% of all males between the ages of 15 and 30 are either in jail, are awaiting trial, are on probabation, or have been in jail. California is on a massive prison-building campaign. (Many of these prisons would not be needed if essentially all behaviors except murder, rape, theft, etc., were legal, and if transfer payments into inner cities were cut off...the "criminal" gangs would not have much to do and would wither away in time.) Given the current trends, certain courses of action become clear. (Personal note: I'm amazed at the number of "punks" of various flavors who continue to live in crowded cities, given the capabilities of communications technology, and the race wars now accelerating in these rat cages. But then I'm not one of those dressed-in-black-with-noserings kind of "punk." To each their own.) --Tim May Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."