From: Steve Davies (steve365@btinternet.com)
Date: Fri Jun 22 2001 - 10:04:47 MDT
-----Original Message-----
From: GBurch1@aol.com <GBurch1@aol.com>
To: extropians@extropy.org <extropians@extropy.org>
Date: 22 June 2001 01:12
Subject: Re: CLANG ... The sound of culture clash (was RE: The meaning of...)
In a message dated 6/20/2001 1:42:04 PM Central Daylight Time,
steve365@btinternet.com writes:
Indeed. I can't see why people are not more aware of the problems posed by
entities like private corporations. An example is the extraordinarily
intrusive regulation of private life that you find in "private communities"
in the US which extends to such matters as what colour you paint your front
door.
. . . but of course, such restrictions are voluntary. Even here in Houston,
famous for it's lack of zoning laws (i.e. large-scale regulation of land use)
(or perhaps especially here), we rely on private regulation of land use
through homeowners' associations and deed restrictions.
I should have spelt things out a bit more perhaps. I know these things are voluntary or contract based with entry and exit (the historic use of covenants is part of one of my major research interests - private supply of public goods) but I do think there is a possible problem. Precisely because such communities are small (and usually pretty homogeneous), with full and fairly explicit consent, they can go in for much more radical regulation of private behaviour than is possible in a large, diverse polity. You may say "If there is a right of exit what's the problem?" but exit is often highly costly in various ways. I know that compared to the things governments can do the threat from private power is piffling because they don't have a large territorial monopoly and can't kill you. That doesn't mean there is no problem however - I'm increasingly impressed by Mill's wariness of the threat "public opinion" can pose to liberty and intellectual exploration. Corporations are a different issue - I accept the need for large organisations to deal with certain processes because of transaction costs (the privatisation of the British rail system is a graphic demonstration of how right Coase was!) but I don't see that the modern corporation is the right way of doing this. Steve Davies
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
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