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From: pkr@maddog.sgi.com (Phil Ronzone)
Newsgroups: alt.individualism
Subject: Re: MY :-) stereo
Message-ID: <3002@odin.SGI.COM>
Date: 19 Jan 90 19:20:49 GMT
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In article <21701@unix.cis.pitt.edu> rhg2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Rich  Graham) writes:
>It's only when you try to plot the course of photons through a
>gravitational field, or describe what happens to land that "nobody
>owns", or imagine societies with differing concepts of property
>interacting that you wonder if Newtonian physics is'nt just a useful 
>set of approximations, and maybe the system of ownership that I've been
>taught from birth is just a social convention that works for me mainly
>because everyone around me is following the same rules.
>
>I hope this helps explain why I (and others) approach concepts in this
>way.  None of this, however, alters the fact that for some reason you've
>chosen not to answer the question that was posed.


Men are not photons. All photons are subject to the same physical laws
and will react the same.

The reactions of men are volitional.

It is extremely interesting how a photon behaves at different velocities.
It is important to physics.

In a volitional science, it is important to derive the basis for a system
of government (non-coercive) that allows the vast majority of men to
pursue happiness.

I believe it is impossible to have any perfect system where men are concerned.

Being marooned in a lifeboat with another person and having only enough
food for one DOES raise difficult ethical questions (although not of
morality or ownership).

However, since lifeboat cases are so exceptionally rare, I feel that a system
that provides for a non-coercive government but doesn't handle lifeboat cases
is very very acceptable.

I.e., we've solved crime, oppression, lack of freedom, and provided for maximal
pursuit of happiness. But alas, we didn't fully solve the lifeboat case ....
(Although there is no moral problem in the lifeboat case).



------Me and my dyslexic keyboard----------------------------------------------
Phil Ronzone   Manager Secure UNIX           pkr@sgi.COM   {decwrl,sun}!sgi!pkr
Silicon Graphics, Inc.               "I never vote, it only encourages 'em ..."
-----In honor of Minas, no spell checker was run on this posting---------------