[ExI] Under the libertarian yoke was Re: Next Decade May See No Warming

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 11:03 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  It wouldn't be a matter of a few people forcing their views on
>  everyone else. The issue is that, as Jef said, the superrational
>  course of action is to cooperate, while the "rational" course of
>  action is to defect.

### It isn't "superrational" to cooperate while knowing that defectors
will eat you alive. The rational way is to try to invent new ways of
cooperation.

------------
>
>  The two choices are:
>
>  (a) no-one is compelled to do anything - everyone gets 50 units of utility;
>  (b) everyone is forced to cooperate - everyone gets 100 units of utility.
>
>  Knowing all this, I and everyone else would *willingly* agree to be
>  compelled to cooperate. Collectivist anarchism might allow for such
>  cooperation while free market anarchism would not. If the advanced
>  aliens are all libertarians this may explain the Fermi Paradox.
>
### You are not trying! Really, you are not trying to deal with the
situation. Again, imagine standing under the leaden skies, aswarm with
alien hulls bristling with lasers. You can rant and rave, you can pine
for the collectivist past when everything was so simple, but They
don't care, They are libertarians. And some scientists predict that in
98 years the average temperatures will rise by anything from 1.8 to
4.0 degrees Celsius. Whatcha gonna do?

If you accept the premises of this intellectual exercise, it won't
help to complain about not being able to force everyone to cooperate -
you are only restating the premise. Also, there is something fishy
about "willingly agree to be compelled", like, an oxymoron, or
something.

Give it a try. You are at least as smart as I am, so I know you can.
It's only the habituation to violence that makes it difficult but
habits can be overcome.

Rafal