Re: Mark Stahlman, entropian

kkennedy@interserv.com
Fri, 16 Aug 1996 17:12:54 -0700


On Wed, 14 Aug 1996, Max More <maxmore@primenet.com> wrote:
>I'd appreciate any information about Stahlman -- his views,
>his writings -- that could help me get a grip on his point of view. I expect
>he will reply, so I'd like to see if there's some way I can have a
>productive discussion with him. He may only be interested in name-calling
>though.

Your last thought is exactly on-target: there is very little point in trying to
debate Stahlman. I know, I've tried.

Stahlman was indeed active on the DigitaLiberty list, until his off-topic,
rambling and flame-bait posts finally got him kicked off. This was an extreme
measure for a liberty-oriented list, but well-justified in this case. He often
came off as well-read, intelligent, and utterly incapable of drawing reasonable
conclusions from anything he had learned. I hope he doesn't join this list now
that ::exclude is history; according to Bill Frezza, dozens of people cited
Stahlman's noise as the reason for unsubscribing from DigitaLiberty. Also, the
DemocracyNow mailing list seriously debated booting him after only two posts.

Some of his posts were about CIA-driven social-control research in the 1950s,
the conspiracy by Newt Gingrich and Alvin Toppler to rule the world, and why
Christianity has historically been the driving force behind capitalism. He also
seems to know a bit about objectivism and libertarian philosophy. His outlook
on the latter can be summarized as Freedom=Slavery.

BTW, DigitaLiberty does still exist, but it is very quiet and has frequent tech
problems. Let me know if anyone wants back on the list and I'll dig up the info.

Kevin Kennedy -- Seattle
kkennedy@interserv.com