[extropy-chat] Anarchy + Transparent Society + Bushido =Survival

[ben]

"Technotranscendence" <neptune at superlink.net> wrote:

 > On Tuesday, April 24, 2007 2:35 PM ben benboc at lineone.net wrote:
 > > The Avantguardian <avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:
 > >
 >> >> I would expect a society where everyone carried
 >> >> weapons to work very politely.
 > >
 > > Is this a testable hypothesis?
 > >
 > > Do we have any examples of such societies, past or present?
 > >
 > > What about gang societies in certain cities?

 >Is everyone armed in such societies?  I thought that the cities with
 >strong gang cultures in the US -- e.g., LA, NYC, Newark NJ -- are cities
 >with strict gun control.  I would expect such cities to have few people
 >carrying guns -- save for criminals.  So, I would question your example.

 > > Or is that a bad example, because the gang members are
 > > all 'bad guys'?

 >No, it's a bad example because in places where criminal gangs rule, it
 >tends to be the case that few people are legally allowed to be armed.
 >
 >This doesn't mean that The Avantguardian is correct, but it means your
 >counterexample does not really speak directly to his position.


Yeah, it wasn't a good example.


 >> I suspect it's not that simple.
 >
 >I suspect you're right, though not given the example you bring up.  In
 >fact, I think that that case actually supports The Avantguardian.  That
 >said, however, I suspect that politeness has more to do with other
 >cultural factors.  Of course, these factors would seem to be reinforced
 >by people being allowed free access to arms.  Why so?  Well, politeness
 >would be one way of defusing most situations that might lead to
 >violence.  The abusive might, under such conditions, think twice before
 >insulting or abusing the wimpy guy.

.. or they might just get a bigger gun.


ben zaiboc