Re: rant on the morality of confidentiality

[Blanc <blancw@cnw.com>]

NuriLogical is anguished that some people are immoral:

>all this is uninteresting to me-- I was making a moral point in an
>essay that is obviously unintelligable to most people here. its my
>big mistake in this world, to pretent that morality plays a role.
>as EH once said, normative philosophies are a waste of time. what
>room does the world have for someone who thinks only in terms
>of how things should be? things ARE, PERIOD. good lord, no wonder 
>Ayn Rand is so uninfluential.
.................................................................

As your hero and biggest fan, EH, said:  

cypherpunks do not wait for other people to become moral; cypherpunks
create their own reality.   (or something to that effect)

How can we know which flaw (for there are many possible) causes a person -
scientific or otherwise - to behave like a coward and give up their
integrity for the sake of safety or money or an undeserved reputation?

How can we know how someone could keep a contradiction in their head,
maintaining a position of virtue in the commuity while yet depending on the
slavery of those whose benefit they purport to be working for?

I guess you will tell us this in your forthcoming article.
(Perry, where are you when we need you?   
	 :>) just kidding!!)

BTW, you should consider that when Einstein proposed the creation of a
bomb, it was within the context of a war being advanced globally by an evil
madman who was gathering every resource to subdue and decimate everything
in his way, and that the rest of the world was desperate for a solution.

Also you should remember that some brilliant people, like Newton, who was a
shy man and didn't necessarily see himself as others did/do, did not care
if anyone else saw the results of his work.  Once he had solved the
problems in his own mind, he was not exceptionally concerned that others
were also struggling with the same, nor whether "the community" needed the
answer.   He was pursuing knowledge for reasons of his own. 

    ..
Blanc