[107540] in Cypherpunks
RE: The Revolution Drops Trou (was Re: Wired Reporter Query...)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Blanc)
Sat Jan 16 02:01:27 1999
From: "Blanc" <blancw@cnw.com>
To: <cypherpunks@cyberpass.net>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 22:48:56 -0800
In-Reply-To: <v04020a44b2c4f8ec13ba@[139.167.130.246]>
Reply-To: "Blanc" <blancw@cnw.com>
From Bob Hettinga:
The first cypherpunks figured out, no, knew from the outset, that state
control of the net was not what they wanted, no, was evil, and they set
about freeing the net from that control. What enabled them to even think
this way, from the very beginning, was digital cash. Financial cryptography.
................................................
What enabled them to think this way was:
. their ability to think, and to think mathematically, programmatically
. their interest in, and knowledge of, crypto
. their ideals - their desire for greater personal control of their privacy, their money, their
lives
Many people are very smart and possess the first two qualities, but work for government agencies.
They think about Financial Cryptography, allright, but from their differing perspective. I tend to
think, in relation to cpunks, that the order of things is that the ideals came first. But in any
case, if these qualities are not all present in coexistence, you don't still therefore automagically
get the one thing from the others: you don't end up being enabled to think about releasing the
slaves from subjection just because you can do math and know crypto. Someone could, instead, be the
kind of person who conspires to achieve even more control over others by virtue of their ability to
do so, given their ability to think about financial cryptography.
What came before the financial crypto was a conscious desire for greater personal control. If
someone doesn't realize this in themselves when they join the list, they become aware of it once
they're on, and enlarge upon this awareness when they stay, as it is the recurrent controversial
issue surrounding privacy and who gets the key, or the rights to use it.
Otherwise, they could just go back to the keyboard and punch out code for the highest bidder,
staying oblivious to the significance of its application. Easily financially rewarding, and they
wouldn't even have to discuss it with anyone (no community), or think about any kind of release from
the political state (no sense of place), as long as they were productive and facile - the 'hands to
someone else's brain' (no personal identity).
..
Blanc
