Re: Talking about Crypto Anarchy

[Arun Mehta <amehta@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in>]

At 20:12 06/08/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote:

>6. I've given up on discussing crypto anarchy in short talks because nearly
>nobody in the audiences I've done it for has the foggiest notions of what
>I'm talking about, and I've found no short, sweet, simple methods of
>getting across the implications.
..
>(I've also seen David Chaum struggle to just get the basic idea of
>"credentials without identity" across to a tecnical audience...even when he
>concentrates on only getting a single facet of his ideas across, the light
>bulbs just don't go off in the heads of the audience members...

I appreciate what you are saying, and I'm sure we all have felt this frustration
at some time or another. I've had lots of people, particularly
social scientists,
aghast at the thought that I could have spent 4 years on a PhD trying to get
a crane to reach its destination 2 seconds sooner -- after a while, you just
get tired, and reach for your beer.

However, policy that affects us is framed by people with little idea, and
*someone* with a clue has to educate them (as well as, maybe, educate
their constituents to bring the right kind of public pressure). Perhaps
people like Tim, who seem to be tired of this, could further the cause best
by "training the trainers." Which, I suppose, is what he is doing
on this list...

In closing, a short, simple story that's worth thinking about:

When Buddha attained enlightenment, the gods asked him to go forth and
spread his knowledge to the  world.

"Why should I?" he asked, "Those that know won't need it, those that need it
won't listen."

"Can you rule out," asked the gods, "that there might be people in between?
Those that with your teaching might learn, who otherwise wouldn't?"

Beware of binary thinking...

Arun Mehta Phone +91-11-6841172, 6849103 amehta@cpsr.org
http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/  finger amehta@cerfnet.com for public key