mk: I believe that all other political states are in fact variations or outgrowths of a basic state of anarchy; after all, when you mention the idea of anarchy to most people they will tell you what a bad idea it is because the biggest gang would just take over. Which is pretty much how I see contemporary society. We live in a badly developed anarchist situation in which the biggest gang has taken over and have declared that it is not an anarchist situation—that it is a capitalist or a communist situation. But I tend to think that anarchy is the most natural form of politics for a human being to actually practice. All it means, the word, is no leaders. An-archon. No leaders.

I wish I remember who it was that wrote it, but it was the first time I encountered this argument that I started to take anarchism seriously. However, IMO Moore is making an incorrect generalization about the animal kingdom. Not that it really matters. I agree that some tools will lead to a more anarchist type of society, which very well may be an improvement.

akkartik recently suggested that I read Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Ever since I did, I've been determined to create Whuffie. I think it may be one of the most powerful potential tools for social evolution that has yet to come to pass. I'd like to see it tried. I'd like to do it. Technology is more powerful than politics.

posted 4456 days ago