-----Original Message-----
>If a society cannot trust the individual, how can it trust a group of
From: Michael Lorrey <retroman@together.net>
To: extropians@extropy.com <extropians@extropy.com>
Date: 08 December 1998 19:39
Subject: Re: The Education Function
>individuals? I can always trust myself to look out for me, and you can
>yourself to look out for you. I cannot always trust you to look out for me,
>especially when our interests are in conflict. Applying this principle to
one
>thing and not another is hypcritical. Applying it to technology, or to
>social/cultural issues, but not to economic relationships reflects a lack
of
>integrity which I find disturbing, and untrustworthy.
Because, like most ideals, the system breaks down under certain circumstances.
Take, as an example, garbage collection. Everyone has garbage. None of us
want it cluttering up our kitchens. We coul set things up so that each of
us pays a small fee to have out rubbish picked up. but some people will
decline to pay. Now their rubbish is affecting me. Should I pay for their
rubbish to be removed? Or should we force them to pay gfor their rubbish to
be removed? Or just have their steaming piles of decomposing filth collect
in the middle of the street?
Another example: Neonatology - medicine as applied to babies.
A baby is born with a defect. the baby is a person. It has no income and
no resources. Should it's parents be forced to pay for it, even if they
can't, even if they don't want to? Should it be asked for a credit card
number when it's born?
Just two problems that pure libertarian capitalism has problems with.
I agree that Libertarian Capitalism works in 90% of all cases and that it
should eb left to do so as much as is physically possible. But no system
works 100% of the time.
Samael