Anarchy and punishment don't go well together, and I'm glad Ambi brought them up.
Thanks to the US military, the world has the Internet. Okay, it would have come about sooner or later, but the same fun-loving guys who launched the GPS satellites funded much of the research: the Pentagon deserves a little credit. A drop. A smidgen.
But due to the Internet's design criteria - notably, that it should keep working despite nuclear war, and route around failure points automatically - there is no central control, no government.
But many people have this "working model" of society, as well as Internet collaboration : that THEY can each be the boss, the ruler, the one who metes out punishments for all those who do not conform to their standards. It's tempting; I know; I've succumbed many times to the Lure of Authority. And I think Jimbo was very wise not to appoint me to the arbcom - but to the Mediation Committee instead.
But I wish we would ALL stop it. Stop all these vendettas and punishments and Lone Ranger campaigns to make the world over the way WE ALONE know is right.
Let's find ways to cooperate together on this encyclopedia project. Something other than anarchy, please. And don't let's set up a court system either. There's got to be a better way.
Uncle Ed
On Tue, Jun 21, 2005 at 06:36:07AM -0700, Poor, Edmund W wrote:
Anarchy and punishment don't go well together, and I'm glad Ambi brought them up.
Thanks to the US military, the world has the Internet. Okay, it would have come about sooner or later, but the same fun-loving guys who launched the GPS satellites funded much of the research: the Pentagon deserves a little credit. A drop. A smidgen.
But due to the Internet's design criteria - notably, that it should keep working despite nuclear war, and route around failure points automatically - there is no central control, no government.
But many people have this "working model" of society, as well as Internet collaboration : that THEY can each be the boss, the ruler, the one who metes out punishments for all those who do not conform to their standards. It's tempting; I know; I've succumbed many times to the Lure of Authority. And I think Jimbo was very wise not to appoint me to the arbcom - but to the Mediation Committee instead.
But I wish we would ALL stop it. Stop all these vendettas and punishments and Lone Ranger campaigns to make the world over the way WE ALONE know is right.
Let's find ways to cooperate together on this encyclopedia project. Something other than anarchy, please. And don't let's set up a court system either. There's got to be a better way.
Beautifully put. I agree, keeping in mind that I haven't read any of what preceded this message in this thread, and am unlikely to. Taken in a vacuum, though, I agree with this 100%.
Fat chance, though. Spite is a primary motivator of humans everywhere.
-- Chad Perrin [ CCD CopyWrite | http://ccd.apotheon.org ]