From: Guru George (gurugeorge@sugarland.idiscover.co.uk)
Date: Wed Apr 30 1997 - 14:31:29 MDT
On Mon, 28 Apr 1997 23:31:14 -0700 (PDT)
Lee Daniel Crocker <lcrocker@calweb.com> wrote:
>> >Actually I find the political claim--the idea that some unnamed agency
>> >of government might be capable of supressing a spectacularly valuable
>> >invention, that it would be in their interest to do so, and that the
>> >effect on the economy would be anything but positive--even more ludicrous
>> >than the pseudo-scientific claims, and strong evidence that the author
>> >is not merely a harmless crackpot but trying to perpetrate a deliberate
>> >fraud upon his readers for some purpose I can only speculate. And while
>> >I might have some sympathy for innocent dupes, I have none for criminals.
>>
>> Well, what about FDA shenanigans? As a libertarian, surely you think
>> there's something a bit fishy going on there? It's not too much to
>> extend one's paranoia a bit more, is it?
>> Guru George
>
>Of course--criminals are criminals whether in or out of government.
>How does that relate to our discussion? I don't see any connection.
>If by 'paranoia' you mean 'distrust of government', then that's fine
>with me. I never expressed any trust in them, I merely find it
>absurd to grant them the competence and power to do what it was
>suggested they are doing. I wholly grant that they are capable of
>sinister motives--in fact I assume it.
>
>But I don't let my speculation about people's motives cloud my
>judgment of facts. I don't take sides, I hold principles.
>
If a govt. has the competence and power to suppress slightly valuable
inventions (as I've heard the FDA has done with some drugs) then it's
not unreasonable, and is certainly not morally culpable, to believe it
has the competence and power to suppress spectacularly valuable inventions,
I think.
Guru George
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:44:24 MST