From: robert@kohlrabi.tcs.com (Robert Blumen)
Subject: Re: How would free market anarchism work?
Organization: Teknekron Communications Systems Inc.
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 01:24:17 GMT

In article <1993Jan9.044437.382@athena.mit.edu>, cmk@athena.mit.edu (Charles M Kozierok) writes:
> thanks for the *very* detailed explanation. more than i can probably
> process effectively in the amount of time available to me... but
> here goes.

> who are these arbitrators? how do we know they can be trusted?
> who is *their* security company? sounds like you are replacing the
> potential corruption of one government for the potential corruption
> of an "old boys network" of mini-governments.

I thought that most objecitivsts believe that competitive markets produce
better results than monopolies.

> how do you deal with bad people getting in control of these companies?
> and before you say "that's how it is with the government now", i don't
> believe that. i think one can still get a *reasonably* fair trial.
> and the government is not banging down my door.
> i see *much* more room for abuse with private companies.
> in fact, it sounds a lot like those protection rackets.

I do think it IS a legitimate question to ask, though, of someone who
is proposing  a government as the solution to this problem, "How do you
deal with bad people getting in control of the government".  We do have
this problem today, in that, at least according to the objectivst viewpoint,
those in control currently are a bunch of looters.  Some would say the
government is a protection racket.  It IS a legitimate question to ask
"How is government different than a protection racket?"

> this sounds fine as long as everyone gets along. you really think
> that companies won't get into situations where they don't agree?
> i really don't think this makes as much sense as i did a few
> paragraphs ago. try to defend a worst-case scenario. to me
> it ends up in complete chaos. and people are generally *not* very
> good at getting along.
> 
> i don't like this much. it just sounds like you are stating
> examples of two cases where people did agree, not providing any
> reasons why that should always happen.

Without exactly responding to the two previous paragraphs, let me say the
following.  Much of this discussion falls into what Hayek would call
extreme rational constructivism.  This is like asking someone, "Under
a free market, exactly how will shoes be produced?  Who will ensure that
they are manufactured in the right sizes, that the shoes with bad soles 
are not sold, etc."   In a market, or spontaneous order, it is impossible
to answer these questions in advance.  Nobody knows.  It is up to the
creativity of the participants to use their knowledge and information
to solve problems as they arise.  Nobody can construct a society that
does not exist on paper.  The intellectual defense of the market order
depends on an understanding of the PROCESS -- that markets are preferable
to monopolies as a means of generating solutions to problems of supply.

> 
> the defense of the minority is a major weakness of anarchism i have
> not yet seen defensed properly. perhaps you will do better.
> you certainly have done far better so far than anyone else i have seen.

This is also a weakness of statism, in that if the majority prefer to
outlaw certain non-coercive behaviors, they can do so through their
government, as well as through private markets.  At least private
markets makes the discriminators pay the cost of their discrimination
in a way that connects it more directly with the discrimination.

> this is not holding much water for me. too many holes. too many
> special cases. too many optimistic assumptions. i know you are just
> starting, but even after looking at your explanations, all i see
> is *chaos* when i think about this system in operation.

See above comments about market order.

> 
> i wish i had time to read it.

I wish you did too.  It might answer a lot of your objections.

-- 
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Robert Blumen                          | robert@tcs.com
Senior Software Engineer               | 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
Teknekron Communications Systems, Inc. | (510) 649-3759
Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.objectivism