Saturday, March 3, 2007

Anarchy 2.0

System requirements:
- Basic Free Market
- Unregulated Web (is that redundant?)

Installation Instructions:
1) Continue to use the web for all basic commercial needs, communication, etc.;
2) Vote for programs that offer fewest centralized cervices;
3) Vote for free trade and against isolationists;
4) Continue to use the web for all basic commercial needs, communications, etc.

Program description:
Unlike previous versions of anarchy, Anarchy 2.0 is an advanced, post-industrialized info-age social OS that relies heavily on the templates established by the open source community as it existed in the late 20th century and exists now. The primary enabling factors that facilitate the adoption of Anarchy 2.0 are
a) Standardized commercial and social communication protocols that already exist on the web;
b) Lack of means to establish any boundaries to commerce and casual communications in the virtual environment, and the corresponding lack of means to tax the above activities at a significant level.
c) The continued enhancement of virtual environment to a point where distinctions with physical reality become increasingly difficult to make out.

The result? Central government might - just might - recede into obsolescence. To use an analogy: who needs Microsoft if the same goods and services can be had for free without a decrease in quality.

Absurd? - Maybe. But time will tell. Disquieting? - Of course. But that might be the point.