Re: Crypto Anachy MUD

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 5:10 AM 9/10/96, Jon Leonard wrote:
>Duncan Frissell wrote:
>> Did anyone make the point (I gave up on the thread) that we already have a
>> great Crypto Anarchy MUD with lots of the coding already done.  We call it
>> the Internet.  Digital cash, strong crypto, remailers, everything.
>
>Tim May expressed doubt that it was worth the effort:  Not much easier
>than the real thing, and not as good.  That's the closest to your point,
>I think.
....
>Finally, a MUD has the potential to spread crypto-anarchic ideas to people
>who would not otherwise have considered them.
>
>It may be that I'm wasting my time, but I could come up with some useful
>new crypto protocol too.

Don't tar me with the "Tim said it was a waste of time" label. Rather, I
said I thought it would be pretty tough to get a reasonable ontology, one
with rich enough behaviors and reasonable incentives and disincentives.
Simulations are an art...they were useful in nuclear war planning, where
the degrees of freedom were constrained, and so on.

I agree that various cryptographic and crypto anarchic constructs can be
"faked" in a game (MUD) that cannot be reasonably implemented at this time
in the real world.

Note: Didn't Steve Jackson Games have something called "GURPS Cyberpunk"
which was somewhat similar?

Anyway, good luck and have fun.

--Tim May

We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."