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Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

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Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#391

Post by baddox »

res0nat0r wrote: post #371
baddox wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. Proponents of polycentric law don't claim that something fundamentally forbids this from happening. But the same goes for proponents of centralized (government) law. What needs to be analyzed is which system makes this more likely to happen.

Ask Somalia.

I'm no expert on recent Somalian history, but I have heard people suggest that Somalia improved during its period of "anarchy," while others contend that it wasn't really anarchy, but rather a battleground of neighboring states and factions battling to be the "one government." Also, Somalia's government before it failed in 1991 was a military dictatorship; hardly something even most advocates of government would advocate.

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1880

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#392

Post by dreamfactory2 »

arg01 wrote: post #332
baddox wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't speak for all "libertarians," but the way I envision it is that it's precisely like restaurants. In other words, anyone can start a restaurant anywhere they choose that offers any services they choose with any restrictions (geographical, etc.), and any individuals can choose whether to pay for any services that are made available to them. Certainly some restaurants will only be available in certain regions, e…

The problem is when it comes to force. I've read a couple of libertarian leaning books after having similar conversations on HN and they all seem to believe that a monopoly won't spring up on force due to market forces and people wisely deciding to pay someone else to stop a company getting to large. It just seems naive, one of the key premises of the free market is that those who do a job better (cost/quality) grow…

It's notable that a role of government is to regulate against monopolies. There is no such thing as natural market equilibrium (which is an underlying false assumption you see a lot) and this is a reason you need external governance for a healthy functioning market. You can argue over quality and whether interests are fairly protected but that's a different question. Also worth considering the history of firefighting which used to be organised along more libertarian lines and was a complete disaster that required centralisation.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#393

Post by baddox »

mden wrote: post #351
baddox wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In informal language, the market chooses winners and losers by "voting with their dollars." Obviously, no single individual has absolute control over any aspect of society in either system.

I'm not sure I understand how that gives you personally more control. It seems to give more control to whoever wants to hurt you as he is the one purchasing the services. So with one body of force, I only need to worry about them coming after me, but with multiple bodies, I have less control as any one of them can come after me (even worse, without my knowledge of their existence in the first place). What am I missin…

> I'm not sure I understand how that gives you personally more control.

Because you don't pay for the services you don't want, unlike with government. Government can decide to come after you and hurt you, after a lifetime of taking a large portion of your income. Again, it's just like any market. Obviously one individual doesn't have direct control over what bread a supermarket stocks, but a competitive market of grocery stores will lead to grocery stores stocking bread in an attempt to meet the demand of its customers. In that sense, you clearly have more control over your local break market than you would if all grocery stores were controlled centrally by government.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#394

Post by zedshaw »

bodski wrote: post #373
zedshaw wrote: post #133

This is seriously the most hilarious thing I have read in a long time. Here we have a group of objectivist libertarians who believe that there should be effectively no laws other than the law of economics and self-interest who run an illegal website devoted to the pure greed of cashing in on contraband, and this is what they write: "I’ve included transaction logs at the bottom of this message. Review the vendor’s dis…

Fuck off Zed, its just people selling drugs man, get over it. Not everyone agrees with prohibition. Between you and Miguel Icaaza there's enough 'Bitcoin schadenfraude' to power a small town.

Actually, I am against prohibition too, and against most drug laws, and definitely against applying them disproportionately. I'm an advocate for drug abuse being treated as a medical condition, for the sale of hard drugs only by prescription, and for any laws to be applied the same to whites, blacks, and corporations alike. I'm against famous people getting rehab while poor people get life sentences for possession. I also think softer drugs should be taxed like mad with all the money funneled into education and real research into the harmful effects of drug abuse.

I also have never done drugs, have never drank alcohol, never smoked, and don't plan to ever and tell people to do the same as me. I believe that drugs and alcohol destroy people's lives and that anyone pushing others to take them are evil people who want to rob another person of their humanity and potentially cause them a life of suffering.

The dividing line for me is that while I think drugs are insanely harmful to people, making them illegal causes more suffering than if you controlled them and treated addiction medically.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#395

Post by jacobtracey »

zedshaw wrote: post #381
jacobtracey wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the condescending way you write that makes you seem like an asshole... i.e saying "Hahahahah" all the time - I don't particularly disagree with your points but the insulting tone is unnecessary, don't you think?

First off, only my mother gets to tell me to "watch my tone". Random jackoffs online can go fuck themselves if they think they've earned my respect by default, especially if those same jackoffs use political rhetoric to harm and steal from others. My tone is simply a reaction to the tone of arrogance and superiority most objectivists and commenters take. If you don't want to be ridiculed, then don't write like a arro…

redthrowaway's comment:

> You can make the same argument without being an ass about it.

Your reply:

> It's funny how me pointing out the stupidity and bullshit of a group of criminals makes me an asshole...

You completely missed their point, how you can't see that is beyond me.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#396

Post by xenophanes »

kaonashi wrote: post #212
xenophanes wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if you're joking. It's easy to google, e.g. http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ar_libertari... > What was Ayn Rand’s view of the libertarian movement? > Ayn Rand was opposed to the libertarian movement of her time. Details follow.

We're talking about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard libertarians, not classical libertarianism.

What is "classical libertarianism"? Google doesn't seem to know either.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#397

Post by [deleted] »

janardanyri wrote: post #301
Kequc wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno man. I agree with you on that, of course you're right. But, people have limits not everyone wants to talk at length to a libertarian so mockery is employed.

In a public general-interest Internet conversation, when you reach the limit of your willingness to productively engage, it may be prudent to cease engaging.

[deleted]

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#398

Post by spikels »

zedshaw wrote: post #336
redthrowaway wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Ahahahahaah!... You're killing me my friends. Just killing me here. You can make the same argument without being an ass about it.

It's funny how me pointing out the stupidity and bullshit of a group of criminals makes me an asshole... But a guy who has actually lost people's money, put them at risk of reprisal from drug dealers, helped people (potentially young people) commit major crimes, enabled future addicts, and potentially is lying about the security flaw to steal all this money while spouting hypocritical contradictory statements...is a…

But wait Zed you certainly come out "looking like an asshole" quite often. You admit it yourself[1]. It seems to have something to do with your strident polarizing style. Just saying...

BTW - Love your L?THW books. Thanks

[1] http://zedshaw.com/essays/master_and_expert.html

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#399

Post by microcolonel »

TL;DR one opportunist business with no strong external audits has failed its customers, and everyone who wasn't affected seems to think it's the perfect opportunity to criticise the philosophical views of people who may not even be involved.

Please stop upvoting such low quality threads. We can do better than this, guys. :P

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