>From: "john grigg" <starman125@hotmail.com>
>
>Eliezer, I would say that there are people out there who get up in the
>morning and with their morning coffee think, "I will do whatever it takes
>to
>preserve my interests and the present power structure!". Even if they do
>not see themselves as against prosperity and personal freedom for the
>masses, they actually may be.
>
>Of course, your point is well taken that the "powers that be" will most
>likely be opposed to a nanotech transformation of society in the narrow
>focus in which their individual authority and interest lies.
>
>I would like to think there will not be an X-files like, "shadow
>conspiracy"
>to pull the strings from behind the scenes! Again, I could see
>"near-anything boxes" being owned and used only by licensed government and
>corporate powers in the name of protection from accidents and terrorism.
>
>This would be done in the name of the current trend in law enforcement that
>infringes on personal liberties for "the common good." This would make it
>that much harder to have the raw freedom to pursue one's interests by
>having
>one's own box. By not having them directly in the public's hands, the
>government and corporate sector are much better able to regulate things and
>maintain to at least a certain extent the status quo.
I don't think "they" will be able to keep the masses from this technology
very long. The hacker ethic "power to the people" and "information wants to
be free" and the like, I am sure, will see to it that the technology is
obtained by the underground. The best way to deal with the problem, I
think, is to freely release verifyable forms of the tech so that, say, if I
tried to manufacture anthrax my nano-device would immediately report me to
the authorities. But as long as I limit my creations to food, diamonds,
computer parts, etc. I'll have no problem with the feds.
Otherwise, I'll try to get an unregistered version from the Cult of the Dead
Cow and then...look out!
-Zero
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:04:36 MDT