Boris Rarden
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Posts
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Posts posted by Boris Rarden
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What are you talking about ? This is great!
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"Your heirarchy depends on one thing only: Get more suckers to give up their money so the first people who joined can acquire more. It is not sustainable in the long term, it will collapse."
Not if the money pool willbe switched to purchase a real business and pay dividends as the percentages.
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Should the answer be: "I hope that you never find out" ?
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What is your take on this ?
http://www.alternet.org/rights/69748/
The workers have no rights to work anywhere else and they are abused. Are we to blame the government for not giving them work visa because they jumped the fence ?
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JASKN: We can start a new country if we do it in a place no body wants to live in. Like Sahara desert. Noboby will bother us for a while, until we gonna have something really good that everybody wants. We would not have a way to protect it, but we will need to create a copy of every technological innovation and store it as a backup somewhere remote. When someone would try to take our work away from us, we will threaten them that we will destroy it. We would send a message. And while we build the Galts Gulch, we have to also build a presence in the real world, so that if we loose our creation, we have something to bounce on for a rebound. By that I mean, real estate, and bank accounts spread out around the world. We can continue doing that generation after generation, until the right message will reach the general public.
As our immediate need we have to select an unlivable place -- too hot, or too cold, and then think of an energy source, and pull our money together for doing it. In our global economy and easily accessible information it is doable.
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Why not think of it as a money pool -- a bank, building itself up in a hierarchical structure ? Those who recruit more people, manage them, and in a sense get a job as an administrator for that group. When the system stops growing at a high rate, the percentages will fall, but the management structure in this "bank" will remain -- this hierarchy has proven itself in action -- the people at key positions have shown that they can be responsible enough and efficient to manage their "branch". This kind of structure can be now thought of a company Xyz, that can buy a real product, factory or service, and manage it. For example, if the company buys a service business, then all members of the pyramid can work on that business. If it buys an Oil Rig, then all members become private share-holders.
Last, but not least, a pyramid like this can crash the dollar and the Federal Reserve, and bring back the gold standard. It will accelerate the inflation inherent in our modern banking system, and will force people to re-evaluate what is going on.
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I think my immediate goal is to have a sandbox playground, as a stepping stone. I don't own any land on which I can be Francisco to make a waterwheel. I can only do that now in a virtual world of computers. Best thing is to start tinkering with something and call it a hobby, and the unique ideas will follow. I'm sure that I will stumble on something that I could sell. The open-source hardware project and Fab Lab concept is a way to learn new skills that will enable creativity down the road.
I found really cheap land right across the USA border, which is convenient for me since I live in Vancouver, Canada. So I will buy it there and will have no problem to commute. I am planning to buy a cargo container ($3000) inside which I will have the workshop, and which I will lock when I am away. The biggest issue is how to protect myself from theft, hence the cargo container. I am also going to install hidden GPS trackers in all my equipment.
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It is a Ponzi-Scheme, openly, by definition. How is it at scam, if people understand how it works, and take a chance, as they do in casino. Is casino immoral ?
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Well, as I mentioned in my post, I like this thing: http://opensourceecology.org/ -- we could build it, and start selling either complete products, or organize workshops for other enthusiats to build them.
Take a look at the list of machines:
http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs.php
One of them is a Linear Solar Concentrator, which on its own, even without all the others, is very interesting alternative energy for those who need to be off grid (remote areas). I think they have a pontential, because they are really cheap compared to solar panels.
I'm not 100% stuck here in Vancouver, Canada, I could fly also, if this is gonna be once or twice a year type of thing, is a solid block, like a month each time.
Boris
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Hi Richard,
I heard stories that businesses and properties in Costa Rica put a barb-wire fence around. Are you doing this for your business location ? Are you putting electricity in the fence ? I am considering buying some remote land in USA, which I will be able to visit only occasionally, and I wonder how to secure it. Do you think an electric fence will stop people from stealing stuff inside ? Would a hangar with lock stop people ? What are your experience or maybe you heard of some people in Costa Rica with similar problem?
I was also considering to buy land in the Negev Desert in Israel, but it is known that beduins steal everything in the teritorry and I would have to pay 24/7 security to watch over it. I imagine situation in other places is not so xtreme. How is it in Costa Rica ?
Thanks,
Boris
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I don't know much about Australia, except these things
1) it is very beautiful, the beaches are amazing clean -- it is really a paradise (I spend three months there)
2) people are friendly and love sport.
3) Australia was the only country that was able to kick out Sharia
4) it is kind of socialist, like Canada
Is my estimation correct ? How are points 1,2,3 achieved if as you mention that Govt treats the population as babies / sheep ?
Why it is so nice there that it makes people happy ?
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Hi,
There is a lot of cheap land on sale today. You can get 40 acres for under 20,000$, or 2 acres for under $5000. Just search for "land" on eBay! Here's one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Oregon-Mountain-Land-48-acres-Klamath-County?item=320874231090&cmd=ViewItem
However, the land at such low prices will be far from a big city (1 day-s drive). If I buy such land, I wouldn't be able to be there on "weekends", but it will be a month a year type of thing. On this land I could build a factory that produces a product. I could build the DIY machines according to http://opensourceecology.org/
Eventually, whatever I do build on that land will have a value, and the product I make could sell to make profit.
Perhaps, if it is successful, we could attract more people, and slowly grow a little factory town.
Alternatively, we can organize a base-camp once a year to bring objectivists together, and/or hobbyist to build DIY stuff.
We won't be able to absolutely hide ourselves from the "moochers" and the "looters", but the remoteness will help.
What I am looking for:
- someone who wants to have a physical sandbox to be creative in. (The physical analog of what a computer provides to hobby programmers).
- someone to develop the plan with of where to buy the land startegically, and the options what to do with it.
- design it so that it is not a burden but free of insane costs (example: if there is a high property tax, it should be split among enough members so that it is not hard to pay).
Boris
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This is a cross post from here:
https://bitcointalk....p?topic=75591.0
Hello Bitcoiners,
I see that people invest in IBB, which stands for Islamic Bitcoin Bank. I think it is the most hypocritical use of bitcoin. Allow me to explain.
Islam, just as any religion (Christianity or Judaism) it is evil at the core of its philosophy. However, Islam is the religion today that takes itself into the government of Iran, which puts guns in the hands of these religious people. If they didn't have guns, their philosophy will only hurt themselves, since it is irrational and has no semblance to reality (example: independence of thinking is bad, sex is bad, etc). So as a person protecting freedom, I'm voting for a war against Iran, to dissolve the religious government.
Bitcoiners talk a lot of free enterprise and freedom, and unrestrained capitalism. Iran, all the Muslim countries that are sympathetic to Iran, are not for free enterprise. They are today what Soviet Union was before it crashed.
Islam is not the only religion that took itself into the government. The most recent example is Shinto religion in Japan. After USA bombed Japan and it capitulated, USA told Japan that they can continue with Shinto, as long as it is separate of government.
I'd hate to see those who are fighting for freedom to be misinformed about the real cost of religion to this civilization. To find out more information about it and form your own opinion about this topic I recommend the following:
Milton Friedman's series on Capitalism:
Interview with Reza Khalili, an ex-CIA spy (Iranian double agent)
http://www.theobject...eza-kahlili.asp
“Just War Theory” vs. American Self-Defense
http://www.theobject...-war-theory.asp
Richard Dawkins -- anything
Ayn-Rand -- Capitalism the Unknown Ideal
http://www.amazon.co...d/dp/0451147952
I know what you are going to say, that whole purpose of bitcoin is to let people do with it whatever they want. That is true, I'm just giving you information that you may not seen. There is a lot of propaganda on both sides of the issue, and the only way to know who is right is to check your basic premises (knowledge).
If you are supporting Palestine, and that is your biggest motivation, here is a debate about it:
http://www.debate.or...tacking-gaza/2/
Our biggest problem today is not the absence of laissez-faire capitalism in USA and the world. Govt controls, and taxes is a symptom of the root sickness which is wrong assumptions about philosophy. It is a lot of work to untangle the mess we are in today, but if you see a hungry child in Africa or Gazza, or in a poor area of USA, and you want to help -- you have to understand the cause of the problem, to solve it. It is like if you find a bug in your code, you want to understand it, rather than adding a special case "if" at the point where it crashes.
I hope that bitcoin will not be used to promote religion, or socialism, or altruism. If you think I'm crazy for saying that, please make sure that you are familiar with the links I posted.
I know that there people who are very strongly subscribe to the Islamic dogma, and who get just as strongly offeneded if they hear anything against it. I'm sorry to offend you, but this is the truth.
Boris
Reactions are all negative, as you can see in the thread. Some guy by nickname Variable said this:
Dude, IBB gives interest free loans. Investing in it has nothing to do with your beliefs or ideals, its all about rates of return and available funding. Bitcoin is all about free market capitalism and if IBB wants a religious religious correlation to be draw between their name and a set of ideals, who cares. Its all about bringing home the bacon.
To which I have replied this:
There is logic in your argument, however, you are missing one thing - restriction of human rights under Sharia.
IBB's money comes from Islamic religion and Sharia -- they promote it openly. Sharia in turn, coupled with government protection, is a totalitarian regime that puts a gun to people's head to force them to do certain things. So the product of their labor is not an output of a free market. And therefore, your argument does not apply.
To illustrate this point more dramatically imagine that I trick people to come to an island for a big opportunity. Once they arrive they find out that there is a factory that makes iPhones. I don't let them leave the island and I shoot anyone who tries to escape. I have food and shelter for them, but I will not pay them anything, and they are forced to work for me as slaves. Suppose food and shelter for these people costs me $1/day, while their labor in a free world would actually cost $100/day. The cost to make an iPhone would be $10 for me, while perhaps the cost to make an iPhone in regular conditions is 10 times as much. Of course I will be able to make a huge profit on those iPhones, so big that I will be able to give attractive loans. I will also use excess money to create a philosophy in which the slaves will not think of themselves as slaves, but more as those fighting for a higher cause -- a religion called Xyz, that demands 1 year of forced labor in order to achieve 1 year of bliss after death. People who will call me a liar I will label as confused souls that need forced guidance. I will advertise this philosophy as a new solace to happiness.
This example is not as far fetched as you might think. You can watch the movie "East-West" about a call to expat Russians to return to Soviet Union, under Stalin. They couldn't leave Russia afterwards, and were forced to work at a tenth of their income they would have in Western Europe, as well as, to live at one tenth the standard of life.
This kind of thing happens all over the place, in history, and even today. Forced-labour of people who are in jail (because they are against the government), cheap labor in China because of Govt import/export taxes and emmigration restrictions (Red China), tricking girls into prostitution (Zwi Migdal), and your plane old slavery. In fact, just by going through history, we can find the same kind of conflicts that exist today.
It is true that you can leave Iran today, although I imagine the process is not simple. But by the time you grow up to be an adult to make such a decision, you have already been taught about the world through the lens of Islam and Sharia. Even if you wanted to have an independent opinion during your childhood or teens, you couldn't have -- just try to say openly there something against Islam. You would be be torn to pieces.
The same was happening in Russia. People were afraid to say something in their kitchen that is against the government. The walls had ears. Also, when there was a parade, everyone had to come out -- if you don't, people will report you. After Stalin was dead, people finally started to speak, still very slowly.
In order to have a free market, people must be free to do for work whatever they want, and where they want. If they want to create a travel agency for American girls in mini-skirts to visit Tehran, they should be free to do so. And citizens of Tehran should be free to look at those girls, at the risk of loosing some friends (but not their heads).
This point of view comes naturally if you understand the source of human rights. Why do I think I have a right to start such a travel agency ? The answer is here:
http://www.theobject...eory-rights.asp
Anyways, I wasn't able to get through to them.
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Hello Objectivists,
If you haven't heard yet, there is a very big Ponzi Scheme pyramid called MMM, http://i-mmm.com . It now has 20 million members (unverified). Unlike other Ponzi Schemes, this system doesn't have any product to sell, it sells itself as a sort-of bank. You deposit money, and get it out at 30% interest after a month, or three. There are different plans. Where does it get the money ? From advertising inself and getting more recruits. Its biggest users are the elderly people who were robbed of their pension in Russia and Former Soviet Union, and who are now able to have a decent living. However, many other people joined in, from other countries and are investing fairly large sums, $10,000 and up. The MMM "bank" has a, like a real bank, some money in the system, and some money coming and coming out. You can imagine that there is a net amount of money that is stable, for example, 1 billion, and can be invested into a real product, for example an Oil Refinery, which would bring in real dividents from products, rather than new people joining. So eventually the really exciting interest rates of 30% are going to fall to match the inflow of people and the means to make money from different products.
So now we have this "bank". It was built by people puting in money for two reasons:
- great interest
- the philosophical idea of helping others, by pooling money together.
And this was done at the expense of risk, because nobody knows if the system will survive another day (less people will reinvest than outgoing payments are due). So in a way MMM is like a gambling game. Moreover, the system is based on trust, nothing is stopping a member to run off with the money. (To understand this last statement, please note that the money is distributed in member's accounts, rather in one big account, and they are supposed to transfer the balances on command to appropriate destinations).
What do you think about the moral implications of such a system ? Is this capitalism on socialism ?
The official statement of the creator is that he wants to crash the current economic system where money is printed by the Reserve Bank and robbing people. Here I agree. He says that because the system of ever-increasing debt and money printing is a sort of pyramid, then the only way to beat it, is with another pyramid.
However, the inclinations of the creator of MMM are socialistic -- he claims that banks are robing its clients by giving a smaller percentage than they could. From what I could gather he doesn't really believe in laissez-faire capitalism (although he never states this). He wants to build some kind of new way, once the current system is crashed.
However, putting the ideas of the creator aside, and looking at the outcome -- can we say it is a bad thing ? A good thing ?
Finally, suppose that we conclude that it is a bad thing, because it promotes socialism. (I leave that discussion open). Is it moral to still invest money into the system, for the following purpose:
- Whatever money I make, I will return to those who will be in the end ripped off (who risked and invested, but didn't get their money back because the system collapsed).
- I want to return that money in the form of Bitcoin. All those people participated in the MMM system, which is really defining its own currency, based on the weakness of conventional currency $. Because the BitCoin project is exactly that, if I return them their money in BitCoin, in a sense I'm putting their money to the good use. I tricked them into buying Bitcoin.
- I plan to withhold a percentage of the balance for my work. So they won't get all 100% back of what I made on MMM, but a bit less. Say 90%.
I hope I was clear enough, and looking forward to hear what you think.
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I started reading your online book, and had an idea that I had to immediately share before I forget. It is about freedom of speech in science. There is a project called FreeNet: https://freenetproject.org/ . The idea is to have a purely anonymous medium of publishing, that can't be linked to the individual technically. Maybe you and your colleagues can publish their work on this system. There is a similar one called I2P that works an on a different principle, but it is the same idea.
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Hello Ludwik,
I'm looking for a mentor to guide me along in physics. I went through 1st volume of Feynman about 10 years ago, and half of the 2nd volume of Feynman last year.
My main motivation are non-orthodox theories that I want to check. People like Towsend, Tesla, Laithwaite, Podkletnov, Hutshinson, Randell Mills (hydrinos), and finally E-Cat guy. Any of related inventions would be so exciting that I want to spend a lot of time tinkering and testing this stuff. I realize that I need to gain a inordinate amount of background knowledge to be able to orient myself in all these theories. I guess, my question to you is, how can I make it as accessible and fun as tinkering with computers is (programming etc). Is it possible ? Is there an incremental method that I can go on to one day find myself in a midst of a community of like minded? Can we create something like open-source physics ?
Thanks,
Boris
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Hi,
I have started a new meetup group for any objectivists in Vancouver. It is:
http://www.meetup.com/objectivism-vancouver/
If you are in Vancouver you are welcome to join.
Boris
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According to Peikoff, you shouldn't expose yourself at an interview.
http://www.peikoff.c...H69-9Nmsw.gmail
What do you think ?
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The link is broken, I mean there is no lecture there. How can I get a hold of it?
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Just discovered this website, debate.org. Here's a sample of a debate:
http://www.debate.org/debates/Israel-is-justified-in-attacking-gaza/2/
I think many of you would like to try your skills there.
(p.s. I am not affiliated with this site)
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I wrote an article titled "Self-Image of Linux Developers."
In a few words, linux developers (open-source developers etc.) present themselves as geeks, or freaks.
Full article:
http://rarden.blogspot.com/2011/12/self-image-of-linux-developers.html
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Hi,
I have enjoyed listening to Dan Carlin's history podcast on iTunes. His website is dancarlin.com
I wonder if any of you have listened to those talks and can discuss those historical events of which he tells from objectivism persepective.
Boris
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Michelle: that's not a working solution.
The closest I found is skypro.com
I do mean to have something like a spiderman with windex. The challenge is delivering the water.
Ponzi Scheme -- a good thing?
in Economics
Posted
Checkout Bitcoinduit.org -- a bitcoin based ponzi game