The Well-Read Cypherpunk

[Tim May]

At 5:32 PM -0400 4/18/01, Faustine wrote:
>Excellent list, but one small bone to pick:
>
>>And there are a dozen other books. The Well-Read Cypherpunk should
>>know something about free market economics (not the Samuelson
>>technical stuff taught in introductory econ classes in college),
>
>Why not? Why should becoming familiar with Hayek, Mises, Popper etc.
>preclude 'learning the language' of mainstream economics?

Get a grip. I also didn't mention algebra, history, and dozens of 
other topics a person here should be familiar with.

I was distinguishing the works on free markets (Haye, Von Mises, 
Popper, Friedman, etc.) from the more general stuff on micro- and 
macro-economics, price theory, etc.

>For instance, how are
>you going to be able to understand Hayek's essay 'Economics and Knowledge' if
>the idea of traditional equilibrium analysis is over your head?

By doing background reading.


>
>I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that too many people are 
>content to
>regurgitate dumbed-down bumpersticker platitudes about libertarian ideas
>without any real understanding to back themselves up. (I'm certainly not
>referring to you here Tim, but I think you know what I'm talking about.)
>Anyway, why should there be any distinction between a well-read cypherpunk and
>a well-read person in general? Everyone has to start somewhere, but jeez,
>broaden your horizons a little.

You're right. I withdraw my "Well-Read Cypherpunk" reading list.

Instead of listing half a dozen very important books, take Faustine's advice:

-- read the tens of thousands of books out there!

-- read the encyclopedias of the world

-- broaden your horizons!

And don't ask what these references to Vinge or Benson or Friedman 
are all about: the truly well-read Cypherpunk will have spent the 
hundreds of thousands of reading time to have read all of these, and 
more.

Of course, in a world of scarce resources, time being one of them, 
some of you may choose to start with Vinge, Card, Rand, Hayek, and 
the other main authors, and then get to the "broadened horizons" 
authors when a spare decade appears on your calendar.


--Tim May

-- 
Timothy C. May         tcmay at got.net        Corralitos, California
Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go
Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns