Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price

Major Variola (ret) mv at cdc.gov
Mon Apr 5 10:10:07 PDT 2004


At 09:03 AM 4/3/04 -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>At 1:26 PM -0800 4/2/04, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
>>Physics, because large entities have different properties (eg
>>surface-to-mass ratio; inertia) than small entities.
>
>Well, certainly, that's the current wisdom about such things.
>
>However, I'm talking about markets, and firms, which are all
>creatures of information flow. As William Gibson put it once, a
>corporation is a being which eats information and shits money.

We are talking about mercs, not selling bits on MercNet.  Mercs are
physical.
Thus their resources (satellites, rockets, tanks, etc) are *controlled*
by Men With Guns.   Who don't like to share the shiniest toys.

>In those terms, then, since, Coase's theorem again, reduced
>transaction cost (lowered by lower information gathering, and most
>important to cypherpunks, lower transaction *security* costs lowering
>transaction execution/settlement/clearing) how do we get the large
>behavior current in modern markets without large firms?

Cheaper info cuts out middlemen, sure; but it does nothing to
permit mercs access to physical-technology that they need
in the physical world.

>Lots of little devices acting in common, in their own self interest,
>using markets to price their services.

Devices are physical.  MwG control the physical.

>Somewhere, on the Shipwright site, is a John Young - discovered DOD
>paper from the mid-90's about "The Mesh and The Net", which looks
>like a toe-hold on the idea of geodesic warfare. I used to joke about
>keeping the landmines in your front yard paid or they wouldn't let
>you out the door. :-).

Sure, meshes mean you may not need satellites or fixed base stations
for your comms.  Big deal.  The mesh-radios may be controlled,
and regardless, you need more than radios to be a merc.  Get
that through your head.

>So, I would bet that lower costs of market entry means that smaller
>firms could compete in large, temporary groups, in the same way that
>market sell-off stampedes happen, only with guns.

You're too stuck on bits and forgetting about atoms.

>The net allows more collaboration between the troops without central
>control,

Yawn.  Disintermediation will happen, its just not enough.  Atoms
matter.





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