We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Well, not really. But he does think life extension is inherently weird. But then I consider a preference for rotting as rather a run for the porcelain goddess philosophy…
The most important point to this disagreement is we can argue until the last trump (or the big crunch, or the heat death of the universe) and it need never be rancorous or threatening. As advocates of a free society neither of us believe we have a right to use force to make the other do things our way. Since I’m obviously right, and he’s wrong, if we were in a totalitarian society, I’d be using the government to stop him from pushing a cult of death and working to outlaw his desire to shove loved ones into the ground to rot or stick them in an oven to be rendered into a fine ash to be kept in an urn on the mantle. I’d have him forceably stuck into a state-mandated state-regulated state-subsidized liquid Nitrogen suspension no matter what his pre-expressed beliefs were. All for his own good of course.
Since we don’t live in that sort of slave world (well, not quite) he has no need to worry… and neither do I. We don’t have to fight. We don’t have to criminalize each other. We can just disagree and get on with living our lives as we see fit.
That is the glory of Liberty.
There’s been a discussion going on between Kausfiles and detractors on whether the Left or the Right has been more violent over the last thirty years. I’d have to say it’s neither one nor the other. There are nuts at the far extremes of every political ideology. Perhaps it’s one of those funny properties of infinity… no matter which direction you go you end up in the same loony bin if you go far enough.
I disagree with Mickey’s statement the left doesn’t have the guns. I’d have to point out the Simbianese Liberation Army (SLA) and its last ditch firefight from a burning house; the various armed bank robberies and such carried out by it during that period; the Black Panthers; the Weather Underground bomb that blew out an upper floor of the Gulf Building in Pittsburgh in the early 70’s; not to mention former Manson Family member Lynette “Squeeky” Fromm’s attempt to shoot President Ford. So who says the Left is unarmed?
In the last decade we’ve had nearly an affirmative action of violence. You’ve got PETA and other eco-maniacs causing destruction and putting lives at risk; you’ve got the equally mad Anti-Choice types on the Right targetting clinics and doctors; you’ve got a few mad bombers… and then you’ve got Unabomber. God only knows where you’d classify him. Somewhere in the neighborhood of Pol Pot I’d say…
I have no doubts we (libertarians) will someday produce a few of our own extreme nuts. Actually we already have, they just haven’t caused any damage yet and those who appeared dangerous have been actively pushed away and shunned by the Party at all levels. The sort of individuals who might one day harm others in our name are persona non-gratis in our ranks. It doesn’t matter how well they walk the walk and talk the talk, they are not welcome.
The extremes of the Left and the Right are more likely to promote violence to accomplish their agenda than even the most far edge Libertarians. The difference in attitude of the Left and Right towards “active measures” shifts in time with the dictats of RealPolitic. When violence moves one’s agenda forward, it is condoned; when violence advances the other side’s agenda it is condemned.
Usually – well often at least – the Opinion Journal email newsletter delivers interesting stories with an interesting spin on them. But today they went off the deep end with a Cryonics story. It seems Ted Williams may be an Alcor customer. For those in the know, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation is the premier organization of its’ kind. I have met and dealt with many of Alcor’s founders and customers. They are uniformly well educated, intelligent and interesting people. Fortunately none of those I know well are suspendees yet.
The silliness with which the OJ approached the topic showed a low standard of care in research. The writer shows a lack of general knowledge of the subject and uses cuteness to cover ignorance.
There are many reasonable questions that could be asked. What exactly is Alcor? Who are its’ customers? What does it stand for? Why would someone have their self frozen? I will attempt very short answers, but I suggest those who are really interested go to their web site and perhaps some others I will reference.
What is Alcor Alcor is an organization dedicated to cryonic suspension of its’ members upon a declaration of death under current medical criteria. Alcor has an experienced staff that will then do their absolute best to get the member into long term suspension in liquid Nitrogen with the minimum possible extra damage possible under current technology.
Who are its’ customers? The customer base of Alcor is drawn from the ranks of extremely intelligent and creative people. They are not fanatical believers in some pseudo-science. They are lovers of life who are taking one last gamble. If the medical technology of 100 or 200 years hence is advanced enough to fix both the original cause of “death” and the possibly severe cellular damage from the freezing process, they win. If they lose, they will never know the difference and so don’t much care.
What does it stand for Alcor believes nanotechnology will advance to a point at which repair at a cellular level will become possible. Life expectancy will then jump to hundreds if not thousands of years. The primary cause of death in the future will be accidents that destroy the brain structure. The difficulty Alcor sees is most of us will be dead long before this becomes possible. Their premise is to just “bite the bullet” now and use the best techniques we have at hand in an attempt to bridge the gap.
Some experiments have shown excellent long term tissue preservation in LN2; in one experiment a dog was taken down to freezing and brought back. It lived out a normal doggy life afterwards. Many in the cryogenics field have a political dislike for the whole concept so few have actually been doing the experiments. None expect it to be easy; none give the current techniques any more than an outside chance of working. Alcor people will tell you that up front. It’s in their paperwork and disclaimers.
Why would someone have themselves frozen???? “All things considered, I’d rather be in Philadelphia”. If you are cremated, you ain’t comin’ back. If you’re buried to rot, you ain’t comin’ back. If you’re cut up for medicine, you ain’t comin’ back. If you are frozen in liquid nitrogen for a century or two… well you might not be coming back. But… If you love life why not take a shot? You can’t take the money with you anyway; Alcor isn’t a big profit corporation, it’s a member run organization and all funds go to the purpose. Their employee salaries and benefits suck. It all goes back into keeping those dewars icey.
I first ran across the concept of Cryonic suspension a long time ago. Way back in the late 60’s or early 70’s I believe (the oldest still viable suspendee dates from that early period). I thought it was technically preposterous but somewhat interesting. Nothing about it interested me enough to dig further until after I read and commented on Eric Drexler’s drafts for Engines of Creation in the early 80’s. The penny dropped. If you can manipulate atoms, repairing or even rebuilding a body becomes technically conceivable. I have watched the field of nanotechnology grow from a handful of Eric’s friends to a globally known buzzword in less than two decades. Some of the first products of the field will be out in a couple years. It is expected to be a major economic sector within the next twenty years.
There are critics of the whole scenario. They may be right. I don’t think so, but they might be. So read the literature, take my opinions with two grains of Sodium Chloride, study the technical issues, pick your horse and lay your money down.
If you are interested in a quick education on nanotechnology, check out Foresight Institute. And oh yeah. Jim Bennett, Glenn Reynolds and myself all have ties of one sort or another to Foresight.
NASA Glenn announced today it has demonstrated high-power electric propulsion with a type of thruster known as a Hall Effect thruster. They say the test unit, known as NASA-457M is
“A giant leap toward enabling high power electric propulsion was recently demonstrated. With power levels up to 72 kW and nearly 3 Newtons of thrust, NASA’s Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, has designed, built and successfully tested a 50 kW-class Hall thruster.”
The technology will have important commercial satellite applications. The possibility of more than doubling commercial payload masses to Geostationary Orbit (GSO) is certain to impact the bottom line of the entire GSO service industry.
Work of this sort is the modern equivalent of what NACA did for the aviation industry in the early days of american aviation.
The American Liberty Foundation “Intruder” ad will air on CNN Headline News:
Wednesday July 10 - 10:06am Eastern
9:06am Central
8:06am Mountain
7:06am Pacific
Times may be modified by CNN to within 30 minutes of the scheduled time.
I’ve been having philosophical thoughts on the Tony Martin affair and some of those thoughts crystalized as I was talking it over with my business partner, a fellow who grew up on the Falls Road.
Government has scarce enough reasons for existing at all, but very few citizens would disagree the core of the “social contract” is protection of person and property. In a healthy community this is the primary role of the police. A free society will not have enough police to have them everywhere, nor will it allow mass surveillance and the corresponding destruction of privacy. Citizens will be expected to defend themselves. They will know police are their friends, always ready to help them in time of need.
Tony Martin’s actions should hardly be noteworthy enough to make the local news. If the incident were noted at all, he would be reported as an exemplary citizen doing exactly what is expected of any good citizen. He would have wounded or detained the troublemakers. The police would have come by, thanked him and perhaps had a spot of tea to pass the time until the ambulance arrived to haul the sorry carcasses off for patching up so a judge could put them away.
Mr Fearon would now be serving a very, very long sentence. He would be held up as a total disgrace, a human being with no intrinsic worth.
But we do not live in a healthy community. Good citizens are fair game for scum; if the scum get hurt they are lionized as downtrodden victims. Meanwhile the real victims are dragged off and given a good swift kick in the goolies for good measure.
This is an unstable situation. If good citizenship is held in contempt there will soon not be any. The social contract has been violated and the result will not be salutory. If there is one social good people will not do without, it is personal safety. If the government can not supply that good, the provision of it will go underground. One should not find this idea surprising as a good fraction of the economy has already done so. Those of Statist mentality don’t seem to understand there is a “conservation law” at work. If there is a demand for a good and they promise to provide it and do not, words will not replace the missing quantity. An underground method will appear and will grow until it satisfies the need. If the government interferes with the underground service provision, we’ll end up with Colombian Neighborhood Watch cartels.
If you want a view of the future this insane treatment of Mr Martin has in store for you, look to the sectarian communities in Belfast during the depths of the Troubles. The government did not, and could not (and was not welcome to) deal with local crime. But the streets here were safer than those of London or Dublin. There was very little crime of any sort for the simple reason the community did not allow it. No one spoke about exactly who the fellows in the ski masks were even though they were friends and neighbors. The men folk went out and “took care of” street crime by the simple expedient of “taking care of” the trouble makers. If you were into robbery and such you got a warning. Then you got your knees done. If you were too stupid to get the point by then the next lesson was final. Rapists got the final lesson first and rape was virtually nonexistent.
It’s no surprise crime is on the rise now that the Troubles are history. You still hear about punishment beatings, but they are less severe and less common than before. I am not saying this is right; I am not seeing it is good. It is just the nearest to home example of “conservation of justice” I could come up with.
Government is not the sole source of justice. If it fails to do it’s job; if it fails to encourage good citizenship and honour those who openly defend their property and person we will have vigilantism. Men and women in masks. 3am executions of trouble makers. Disappeared criminals who might have only served a prison term in a normal society. All this and the climate of fear that goes with underground violence…
..for if the government does not provide the goods, others will and they will not have the luxury of leaving witnesses alive.
Yesterday’s issue of “The Sun” (Saturday July 6th) has an article by John Askill “Gipsy burglar sues farmer”, one of the more appalling items I’ve read recently. The first line says it all: “The burglar wounded by Tony Martin is suing the farmer on Legal Aid, it was revealed yesterday.”
A few years ago I dealt with a computer sales guy from Atlanta, Georgia, an ex-US Army man who married a Belfast woman. I think this place was too much for him because after a few years he got divorced and went home to Atlanta. But I’ve always remembered some advice he gave me on dealing with burglars: “Use the Double Tap”.
He became proficient at the technique while on active duty. It’s a great small arms method of ensuring your target doesn’t get up again. Like most really good ideas, it is dead simple.
Your aim point is the center of the burglar’s torso; you pull the trigger twice, very quickly. That’s where the “double tap” name comes from. The first bullet is likely to hit mid body and dissuade him from further action. The recoil from the first shot pulls your aim point upwards such the second is a head shot. If executed correctly it’s an easy kill. Good ol’ US Army small arms training there!
He was advised by a police friend not to use more than two shots if at all possible. More might be considered “excessive force”. You should only use a third round if the lowlife is still breathing,. Make sure it’s not in the back so you won’t be accused of firing while he’s trying to get away.
If the body falls out of the door, drag it across the threshold before the police arrive.
Farmer Martin’s big mistake was leaving Fearon breathing. He certainly couldn’t be any worse off, and besides… dead men don’t sue.
In a recent e-mail newsletter Harry Browne made an interesting historical point about the US Pledge of Allegiance:
“Returning to the Pledge of Allegiance, it was composed in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (link requires registration) a socialist, specifically to help young children become good little citizens of the Fatherland.
The idea that our children should be pledging allegiance to government smacks of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union — the very antitheses of what America was meant to be.”
I grew up reciting the Pledge every single morning of my life for thirteen years… and until this day never knew its’ history. You just assumed you were taking part in a tradition that went back to the founding of the Republic. You pictured young Abe and his school mates reverently reciting it in their one room red school house.
At the time when the Pledge was written the American social elite were having a love affair with all things Prussian. The efficiency of German State planning was all the rage before the turn of the previous century.
I somehow don’t think this is quite the message those of the conservative quadrant wish upon their children.
Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. (OH) was convicted of tax evasion in a Federal court recently. Interestingly, he is an outspoken tax critic. Does anyone remember a similar case about 15 years ago? Traficant is not the first congressional tax critic to be silenced with a prison sentence.
Attorney Linda Kennedy from Virginia believes there was significant judicial misconduct by Judge Leslie Brooks Wells. You might want to read about it. If you find yourself in agreement, you might even want to join in the complaint.
“Quis custodiet istos custodus?”
A Muslim woman in Florida who demanded the right to wear her veil for her drivers license photo has won her case. At first blush this seems silly. But think of the consequences for liberty! She has set a precedent. If you are a Florida resident you now have a way around State mandated identity photos. All you need to do is establish a religion which forbids it… and have a good lawyer ready to ram the precedent back down the Court’s throat when they try to play by a double standard.
Thinking about the applications of this to Northern Ireland is enough to put me on the floor laughing. Wouldn’t it be fair enough to let the lads wear their ski masks for their NI driver license photo’s? If they have a culture of violence shouldn’t we be culturally sensitive about their cultural needs? Just because they only blew other people up is no reason to think they don’t deserve the same respect!
The Opinion Journal’s email letter tonight refers to an article about George Michael’s new song, “Shoot the Dog.” The bit I simply had to share was this quote:
I simply wanted to write a song that said to everybody, ‘People, let’s be aware of this situation and understand there are some very pissed off people out there, and that America–and us, for that matter–need to start to listen to them a little.’
He’s absolutely right on one point. There are indeed some really, really pissed off people out there. Quite a large number of them actually.
They’re called Americans.
I cringe when Philosophers begin arguing Ethical Systems from First Principles. Codes of behavior built from argument based on mathematical rigour have a place in academia but are extremely dangerous when applied to the real world. People are not logical programs built from a rational base. They are a collection of hundreds of millions of years of gene based behavioral evolution and some thousands of years of mind based cultural evolution. Only the later of these is “perfectable”. One who thinks otherwise carries the shadow of Gulags Yet To Come in their eyes.
More so than the practitioners of many disciplines I’ve delved into, philosophers seem to place Humanity on a high pedestal of Rationality. I don’t. I see people as one more data point on a continuum of data points; a vector of traits which exist elsewhere but reach their highest expression (so far, and in our own biased eyes) in our species.
If you have decided by this point I am a follower of Richard Dawkins, then you are an astute observer and commendably well read. Dawkins changed our way of looking at evolution from one based on populations of individuals to one of populations of genes. Genes do not care about individuals (or anything else for that matter, so excuse my anthropomorphics). If a behavioral pattern kills 10% of a population but causes the other 90% to be fruitful and multiply, there will be more copies of the gene or genes (or memes if we are dealing with culture-based behavior) responsible for that behavior. Genes are the individuals which compete with each other and evolve. Not cells. Not tissues. Not wombats. Genes.
Altruism may be emphasized or de-emphasized by cultural traits and training but it can never be eliminated. It is a part of our hardwired animal program. Species with altruistic behavioral patterns will thrive at the expense of those which do not have them. It may be rather hard on an individual to throw themselves on a handgrenade or charge a machine gun nest, but by their action a larger number of the genes and memes expressed in them will survive and propagate than would otherwise have done so. It’s purely a numbers game.
I chose altruism as an example because it is currently under discussion, but the point I wish to make is a much more encompassing one. Human beings are not empty general purpose computers to be programmed at will to whatever happens to be the Perfect Ethics of the day. They come with a very large baggage of hardwired behavioral preferences which will make a mockery of the Perfectionist’s attempts to create the perfect “Your-favorite-ism” Man.
The attempt may be akin to bean-bag punching but this has never stopped Perfectionists from trying as we can see from Cambodia, Siberia, Dachau and Srbenica and Paris in the Ideological Centuries and the long line of religious pogroms stretching back into the mists of pre-history.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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