B.I.O.S. to lock out non-Windows code ?

[Anton Markov]

Hi Hugh,

I really like your ideas.  I too am a strong supporter of capitalism and 
getting the government out of the way.  Unfortunately what you are 
describing is an utopia, that is to say it will never happen.  There is 
a flaw in human nature that will always create a certain number of 
bandits, crooks, politicians, and other dishonest individuals.  These 
people will try to abuse the system just as they do now and ruin it for 
everyone else.  There always has to be a controlling body that keeps 
these individuals from ruining it for everyone else.  Preferably this 
wouldn't be a democratic body (alas, the majority seem to fall under the 
definition of dishonest (or at least not-so-nice-and-kinda-lazy) I gave 
above), but an aristocracy of a kind where the members are selected 
based on their wealth and achievements in life (definitely not 
hereditary).  Isn't that the way most open-source projects elect their 
leaders (the 'achievements' part anyway)? 

A few more points below.

P.S.  Please understand that I am not contradicting your ideas.  I just 
want to point out that instead of concentrating on a perfect world that 
will never be, it is best to think of a real future and preferably as 
close in the future as possible; that way we can play our role in making 
that future come true.


Hugh Reilly wrote:

> OK, I read Peter's email. First, by "abundant" currency, I do not mean 
> the kind of hyperinflated currency that ruined the Weimar republic and 
> perhaps contributed to the rise of the Nazi party in Germany between 
> the wars. That kind of hyperinflation is caused by printing more and 
> more money which remains backed by the still limited productive 
> capacity of the economy. Finite economic capacity divided by 
> (approaching) infinite currency units equals valueless money, or 
> hyperinflation. That doesn't work.

Absolutely correct.  Unfortunately I think it is still happening on a 
smaller scale even today in the US and Canada.  (Where are the liberals 
gonna get the money for all those wonderful promises of their's without 
raising taxes?)

>
> Today we have a new class of economic product; digital/virtual 
> products whose marginal cost (approaches) zero, and that can be 
> reproduced and distributed ad infinitem (and is therefore 
> fundamentally abundant). Software, MP3s (for example), even 
> information and knowledge itself fall into that category in the 
> Internet age. As more and more of the overall economic activity is 
> comprised of these abundant economic products, we have the opportunity 
> to match production of these products exactly to demand--without the 
> need for "rationing" by raising prices until the demand and supply 
> curves meet.

What about a very finite resource called *time* that the programmers 
spend writing the software or that the artists spend producing their 
work?  Unfortunately there will be a large number of people who will 
want their time compensated in a more direct and obvious way than the 
way you describe.

>
> An "abundant" currency is one where, on the personal level, an account 
> balance of zero is not an impediment to spending. The account holder 
> can continue to spend and reduce his balance into the negative. The 
> negative balance need not be paid for with "interest", but is in fact 
> backed by his or her own capacity to create value within the context 
> of the larger organization which is responsible for managing that 
> particular currency.
>
Like I mentioned above, this approach would require either everyone to 
be totally honest or a central system/authority that determines the 
value of one currency in relation to another.  Although the first one 
would be preferable, the second one will be most likely to work.

> Does that clear thing up?

Yes, thanks.  It's good to hear I am not the only one who wants to kick 
the government out :-)

-- 
Anton Markov <("anton" + "@" + "truxtar" + "." + "com")>

GnuPGP Key fingerprint =
5546 A6E2 1FFB 9BB8 15C3  CE34 46B7 8D93 3AD1 44B4

 "The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success."
 - Some bad guy from 007


-- 
Anton Markov <("anton" + "@" + "truxtar" + "." + "com")>

GnuPGP Key fingerprint = 
5546 A6E2 1FFB 9BB8 15C3  CE34 46B7 8D93 3AD1 44B4

 "The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success."
 - Some bad guy from 007

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 256 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gtalug.org/pipermail/legacy/attachments/20031010/6d3f6d13/attachment.sig>