From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Sat Mar 15 2003 - 04:50:12 MST
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On Behalf Of Hal Finney
> Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 11:00 PM
> To: extropians@extropy.org
> Subject: World of Knights
>
>
> I read something the other day that got me thinking about what the world
> would be like if everyone were honest. By honest I mean mostly that when
> they give their word, they feel bound to keep it. It would also mean that
> people would tell the truth and not lie. To some extent the situation
> in Wright's The Golden Age had some properties like this: although people
> could lie, they had the ability to tell the truth in a verifiable way, by
> letting the machines read their mind. And as it was a pure libertarian
> world, everyone seemed to feel very much bound by contracts that they
> had agreed to. I think maybe the machines enforced that.
You don't need machines to enforce that. In contractual, low-cost
publication world, you very publically stop being contract-worthy if you
mess with people. You aren't invited to parties. You become a social
outcast, you can't garner whatever resouce it is that you need to make
contracts to acquire. Your very ability to live the way you want within the
society is diminished by your actions.
The only reason this isn't true now is inefficient publication and lookup of
reputation.
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
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