From: Ken Meyering (ken@define.com)
Date: Tue Dec 15 1998 - 17:24:57 MST
The internet is large enough that we could, if we chose, use it as a
global inventory control system and surveillance network.
It's technically possible to create a database of today's consumer
price index, and to *privately* regulate prices within a variable
range, within limits, so as not to cause economic chaos.
This would then permit extropians to live on an allowance of
Gutenberg printed money.
We would be a new layer in the intelligence community. Watched, but
free to communicate openly, and live comfortably.
However, we would need to develop a filtering system that protected
us from religious fundamentalists and intolerant thinkers.
For example, I have updated my home page at http://define.com to
include a Linux icon that contains my version of a skunkweed pro-hemp
emblem. However, this symbol would likely cause alarm or agitation
if viewed by certain non-libertarians.
There are two icons with similar names, but only one is displayed.
http://define.com/linux.gif
http://define.com/_linux.gif
I'm sure that it is possible to intercept http traffic to and from my
ISP, so that certain requestors see one version of the bitmap, and
certain requestors see another version of the bitmap.
I do not have the database to determine who should see which version.
However, I believe that the intelligence community and large phone
companies probably have memeset databases accurate enough to
determine who would see which image.
This brings us to the question of verification and authentication.
For example, last night on CNN I saw video of UN weapons inspectors
leaving Baghdad. What is the possibility that this footage was shot
four days ago, and that three days ago a dense array of neutron bombs
was detonated over Baghdad? How do I know that the information I'm
receiving is current and accurate? How do I authenticate the news?
What if there was a PC hardware component list of optimal components
that could be used to build a PC workstation for use either as a
Windows95 game machine, Windows98 home office system, WindowsNT
office workstation, or Linux Workstation/Server?
What if the system was assembled in each OS configuration, loaded
with a full suite of software (WP, Database, Spreadsheet, Internet
Clients, Servers, Games), then cloned using Powerquest Drive Image
(http://www.powerquest.com) or Norton Ghost (http://www.ghost.com)?
I would have made an example of that hardware list, but others can
come up with that.
If the list included links to "this week's" lowest priced wholesale
component vendors, than this would create a resource for bypassing
retail and mail order channels for hardware and software systems.
Essentially, the whole retail computer trade would be made obsolete,
and so would the service sector than normally performs installation
functions.
In other words, we are technically at a point where we can "automate
ourselves out of our jobs". I don't think this is bad, it's just
that we need some sort of income to compensate for the lack of
employment.
Personally, I think Microsoft Windows is an o.k. product, with a lot
of great hardware and software. It's just that I don't believe in
paying for the software, and I don't believe in paying middlemen for
the hardware, especially when the hardware is outdated before it's
advertised!
So, we need a system for amnesty for technology workers, and
filtering to prevent the labor and service sector from being
panicked.
In my opinion, the solution is to switch over the Riegel economic
system (i.e., forgive all debts, and pay knowledge workers an
allowance for being discrete about their knowledge of extropy).
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ken@define.com
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