Having no cash is not freedom

Post #75,536 by deSitter 1/19/03 3:44:04 PM Reply	Having no cash is not freedom If that were true, then having cash would be tyranny, and I don't see Rummy and Shrub fearing tyranny. Therefore the contrapositive is true. You cannot be free by forsaking cash. You can be free by applying intelligent teamwork and a faith in the idea of merit. It has nothing at all to do with cash. If an anarchist imprison himself deliberately in poverty, how is that any different to his mortal existence than getting himself imprisoned spatially? He might as well starting throwing MTs. Anarchists are deluded by the idea that the world is top-down. -drl
Post #75,540 by tuberculosis 1/19/03 3:51:48 PM 8/21/07 6:27:50 AM Reply	Freedom's just another word for "nothing left to lose" -J. Joplin I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customer got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more. --Alan Perlis Edited by tuberculosis Aug. 21, 2007, 06:27:50 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #75,551 by Brandioch 1/19/03 5:11:01 PM Reply	It depends upon your belief system. If he has no cash because he refuses to support the current system (capitalism is not democracy), then he is following his beliefs. Unfortunately, the given example (dumpster dining) is more of a parasite than an anarchist. He is living off the wasted excess of society. He is not following the strictures of our capitalistic democracy, but he is also not living by the anarchist beliefs. Which is the problem with most people living "alternative" beliefs. They don't understand the concept of the "interface". We trade with China. That does not mean we have the same belief structure as China. It means we have an "interface" with China. One could setup an "anarchist commune" by purchasing (capitalistic concept) some land and setting up the commune. Of course, there would be the "interface" of land taxes and such. Not to mention the "interface" with neighboring communities. They don't realize that an anarchist can trade with non-anarchists for what s/he wants/needs.
Post #75,627 by cwbrenn 1/20/03 10:04:08 AM Reply	Temporary Autonomous Zones I'm not sure if that's what they're still calling it, but some anarchists do this thing where they choose a place to squat (i.e., move in to an abandoned building, fix it up, etc) and use that as a base of operations for anarchist propaganda -- with the idea that eventually they're going to be run out (hence, "temporary"). But during that time, they set up a little mini-society that acts as an anarchist primer for the inquisitive. And on the other side of the spectrum, I know an anarchist who routinely runs for political office, unapologetically, and won more than once on the local level. He's an interesting guy... has gone toe-to-toe with other anarchs who routinely accuse him of selling, and he responds tot he effect of "I've done more to stop the statists from screwing over my neighbors in one term of office than you ever will in your entire life." Only more colorfully, you see... "We are all born originals -- why is it so many of us die copies?" - Edward Young
Post #76,002 by mmoffitt 1/21/03 7:04:19 PM Reply	Whatever happens next, this will be the century that ... vindicates Karl Marx. Increasingly we are fitting the model for a Communist Revolution. Look at the pieces, it's nearly all there. There is a spectre haunting the United States...
Post #76,005 by boxley 1/21/03 7:25:43 PM Reply	naw, think we skipped a step and went right to the Dicktatorship, thanx, bill will work for cash and other incentives [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html\|skill set] You think that you can trust the government to look after your rights? ask an Indian
Post #76,010 by mmoffitt 1/21/03 7:51:59 PM Reply	Nope, 'twas Lenin who thought "skipping steps" was possible. And it wasn't, quite obviously, possible for Russia to skip any steps. I read somewhere the other day that there are something like 13,000 families with more personal wealth than 20 million families in this country. Sounds about right. Spoke to a client the other day, a good friend as well as a client, and I said that I thought that computer technology had been a "net negative" on society. He was surprised I said that, even more that I meant it. When he said, "But look at the wealth that has been generated by widespread use of computer technology," I said, "Yes. It's been a good ride - for the winners. But suppose you aren't one of the winners. Are you better off because a Fanuc robot can put you and two of your peers out of work forever?" Imo, the embrace of computer technology will hasten a revolution. A society cannot withstand all the "excess labor" that automation generates, nor can it long tolerate the polarization, extreme polarization, that arises. bcnu after the bloodshed (I hope), Mikem
Post #76,012 by boxley 1/21/03 7:54:27 PM Reply	either in the camps or the whitehouse most regime changes take people like me out first. You cannot be a slave if you know how to die. thanx, bill will work for cash and other incentives [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html\|skill set] You think that you can trust the government to look after your rights? ask an Indian
Post #76,013 by mmoffitt 1/21/03 7:56:01 PM Reply	Me, I'm planning on being a "useful idiot" ;-)
Post #76,015 by boxley 1/21/03 8:16:45 PM Reply	well if you see a guy in a trench coat and raiders cap looking for a plane ride, dont examine his papers too well and practice stol's :0 thanx, bill will work for cash and other incentives [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html\|skill set] You think that you can trust the government to look after your rights? ask an Indian
Post #76,223 by Ashton 1/22/03 6:30:02 PM Reply	The wealth transfer will begin to reverse when those imagining they are Safe from People, behind those gated 'communities of predators' realize that ~ At any degree of techno- advance: destruction of complex machinery (or of organizations which impoverish millions) is far easier than was the construction. It's a Natural Law, yet! Entropy / Chaos Rulez. 15\ufffd of iron powder can ruin a $M machine; mobs can topple even.. An imbedded Church hierarchy - when you fuck with their kiddies behind the altar. (And a $300K Maybeck sedan burns as well as a Ford Escort - less'n ya keep it in the living room of yer mansion.?. then it goes with the mansion ;-) Ashton dissolution of a fucked culture is at least - Exciting! sometimes. Hmmm fuckedculture.com: I see an opening there..

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