From: "Amara Graps" <Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de>
> It is difficult for libertarians to tell people 10 years after the
> "Fall of Communism" why those people's (in former communist countries)
> lives are not significantly better now.
Since it took communism 70 years to mess up their country, we shouldn't expect
to remedy the situation in only ten.
> For me personally it's sad,
> since I was one of those who used to tell people that as soon as the
> communists disappeared, and free market mechanisms took hold, then
> their economic lives would be much better...
If their economic lives could have begun with a clean slate, instead of
undoing several decades of the murderous antics of one Josef Stalin, then
perhaps free market mechanisms could take hold to better effect. Perhaps it's
difficult for entrepreneurs to get used to the idea that their lives are not
in danger for thinking capitalistic thoughts.
> Mark has convinced me
> now that this book can explain some important reasons why those
> people's lives are not signficantly better, as well as what can be
> done to change that situation. It certainly is a cause to be
> passionate about!
Perhaps a good place to start would be to get rid of the Russian Mafia, which
is where the KGB has apparently migrated?
> No, I haven't read this book yet, but it's been on my reading list
> in-queue since Mark spent some time talking about it with me in June,
> and I'm looking forward to it.
Which costs more... Mark's book or Das Kapital?
> BTW, we need to get Mark Miller and Hernando De Soto together. They
> have not met each other yet.
What a beautifully friendly gesture that would be!
Maybe they should meet in Hernando's Hideaway...
Ole!
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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