Re: e-$ and AP

["Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>]

On 19 Apr 99 12:31:09 EDT, not provided not provided wrote:

>"Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net> wrote:
>>Cheap Aphorism of the Day: AP is to anonymous e-cash what life is to 
>>organic molecules: sooner or later, it is bound to develop and flourish.
>
>I don't think it's clear at all that AP is bound to flourish as a consequence
>of anonymous e-cash. 

Well, maybe flourish is pushing it a bit, but develop stably it certainly 
will.

Any deterrent for crime, in a pre-AP world, is based on the probability of 
getting nailed for a given crime.  Criminals are businessman, as clearly 
demonstrated by several studies.  The cost/benefit ratio is always taken into 
account.  Often, criminals being not very smart, they will do things that 
_seems_ not to stem from a rational cost/benefits assessement, but it tend to 
be in _their_ assesment of the situation.  If you have a certainty of not 
getting caught ever, you reduce the cost/benefit probability of the ratio.  A 
new market will emerge inexorably.

In a post-AP world (assuming AP systems are up and stably running and 
significantly running), the same law would apply but might express itself 
differently because of the different context.  Crimes commited by someone 
known to the victim will likely be reduced because SOB's reputation will earn 
them a prize on their head by their fed-up neighboors/relatives/relations...  
So will at-large car thiefs, house thiefs, etc. be discouraged because of 
irate victims putting a price on the head of _any_ car thief, house thief, 
etc.  The only type of crime that might increase is the one-shot criminal who 
has a good reputation and will keep behaving after his crime.  But human 
nature tend to be what it is, thus, there is virtually no such thing as a one-
time criminal.

A new breed of "assasins with ethics" will eventually develop.

Just walk on any street and ask if people think the justice system truly 
protects them...  Have a look at how many people gather to witness executions 
and how much they hate the guts of the killers...  Talk to anybody who was 
victim of a crime and ask them what they would do to them if they had the 
thief tied to a wall in front of them...

A thief attacks private property.  Private property is produced by the 
application of the life of an individual to the specific problems of 
production.  To attack private property is an attempt to steal a portion of 
the life of a producer.  Such act entail a lack of respect for human life and 
a lot of people have no respect for such a scum.

Clearly, there _is_ a _market_ for AP.  Find me ONE market that failed to be 
occupied while there was a huge demand for it...  The _only_ thing that 
prevent it's apparition is the lack of trustable anonymous e-$.

Hell, nobody really even need a dedicated server!  Usenet could be used for 
it!

It is nothing but economic theory in action.

Ciao

jfa

"Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves" 

(William Pitt, English statesman and friend of American independence, Speech on the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783.)