Message from a Parallel Universe

Declan McCullagh declan at well.com
Sun Apr 15 16:26:43 PDT 2001


On Sun, Apr 15, 2001 at 07:26:24PM -0700, Tim May wrote:
> And my point is a very serious one: saying that "anarchy" cannot work 
> in markets is not much different from saying anarchy (uncoerced 
> transactions) cannot work in areas where in fact uncoerced 
> transactions are the _norm_.

Right. It's like telling a statist that certain government programs
and regulatory systems aren't absolutely necessary. Their initial
reaction is to disbelieve this notion: "But how would it work?"

To phrase Tim's point another way, taking some liberties: If there is
sufficient market demand for a product or service, it will become
available, whether or not the government regulates it, encourages it,
or prohibits it. If we knew tomorrow that copyright law would
disappear in 10 years, the market would move to continue a system
where new content would be available -- the incentives are too strong
to ignore.

Obviously ease of avoiding regulation and technological
advances aiding reputational systems are big variables too.

-Declan





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