[ExI] General comment about all this quasi-libertarianism discussion

[Richard Loosemore]

Eugen Leitl wrote:
 > ... for [these libertarian/anarchist proposals] to work you need to
 > patch the human primate.

Did you really say that?  You are suggesting that libertarians need
to ... what?... brainwash people? ... cut out bits of their brains to
change their behavior? ... genetically engineer them?  :-(

I am not sure if you are advocating that idea, or telling me that all
these proposed libertarian/anarchist ideas are dumb *because* they
impplicitly assume that humans have been "patched" in some way.

 > Relevant aspects of human societies cannot yet be modelled
 > effectively.

So there is really no code, no proof whatsoever, that these
mechanisms will actually work?  You know, when some AGI researchers
don't have working code, they get slammed.  But those AGI researchers
are actually working to produce the code, even as they get slammed ...
whereas you seem to be saying that libertarian fantasies *cannot* yet
be modeled, so I guess those fantasies deserve to be slammed even more
than AGI theories, for which code is on the way.

 > Energy as currency backing is not useful, because it gets consumed
 > in the process. However, it would make sense to tie currency value
 > to a basket of raw resources, with periodically adjustable
 > composition and coefficients, which have to be however resistant to
 > gaming.
 >
 > It would be a return to metal-backed/non-fiats, but without the
 > disadvantages. Since we've been there, and we know the system is
 > currently poorly managed the risk would be probably low.

But all that was pure speculation, and more speculation is hardly a
response to my request for proof.

(And, BTW, the vast majority of economists seem to think that going
back to a metals standard is crazy in spades.)

 > Yes, you have to fix the agent. Current agent's won't do.

Again, this is mind-boggling.

I really want to hear more about this "fixing the agent" business.

I am puzzled as to how libertarians propose to "fix" people. It
sounds profoundly ominous.



Richard Loosemore