Re: Libertarian theory breaking down

From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu Mar 20 2003 - 22:58:06 MST

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    At 08:56 PM 3/20/03 -0800, Hal wrote:

    >Then there's always the strategy depicted in Vernor Vinge's short story
    >The Ungoverned, where individual citizens arm themselves using the kind of
    >advanced weaponry that most governments forbid their citizens to possess.
    >It's not clear whether that would work as well in practice as it was
    >depicted in fiction though.

    It *didn't* work well in fiction. The good guys only bested the bad guys
    because a rogue mad dog purchased and used nukes that broke all the
    voluntary agreements among the decent ungoverned. `The Crime and the Glory
    of Commander Suzdal'-effect. (A reference to a Cordwainer Smith story; the
    margins of this email are too small to elaborate.)

    Damien Broderick



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