Re: Voluntary Governments?

[Jeff Barber <jeffb@sware.com>]

solman@MIT.EDU writes:

[ > T.C.May writes: ]

> > Without the legal monopoly on coercion, this so-called "government" would
> > be just another service provider, like Safeway or Goodyear or K-Mart.

> In cyberspace, the default condition is that there is no interaction.
> Communication requires agreement by both parties. During this
> agreement, the laws (contracts, whatever) that the two parties
> follow can be communicated by each party to the other, and if
> party A does not feel that party B's laws provide him with
> enough protection from B, he can refuse contact until B agrees
> (at least for the duration of the communication) to more
> constraining laws. The cost of such a transaction will likely
> be negligible in cyberspace.

Huh?  This is gobbledygook.  Get specific.  What is it that party A is
providing that would motivate party B to "agree to more constraining
laws?"   Or do I have it backwards; I can't even tell which of these
parties is supposed to be a "government".


> My definition of government is as follows: governments are civic service
> providers which by their design attempt to impose a consistent set of
> rules on a diverse group of entities. In the physical world, the word
> impose usually translates into puting a gun by your head. In cyberspace,
> the word impose translates into placing stipulations on contact between
> people who follow the rules of the government and people who do not.
> Charging "aliens" penalty taxes during economic transactions,
> and refusing contact altogether are examples of cyberspatial government
> imposition.

This is just gobbledygook again.  Please describe how a "voluntary"
government would prevent "aliens" from conducting their own economic
transactions completely outside this system.  And what is meant by the
phrase "refusing contact?"  Does this mean that the government to which
I don't "belong" will refuse to receive communications from me?  How is
this a penalty?


> So my claim is this:
> 
> Without extreme cultural upheaval, it is highly probable that voluntary
> economic coercion alone will be sufficient to allow big government
> to move from the physical realm into cyberspace.

Perhaps.  You certainly haven't explained how.  ("voluntary" and
"coercion" in the same sentence?)


-- Jeff