Source
r/Anarcho_Capitalism•
fig89

r/Compsci is having a discussion about market efficiency

I submit to you a plea for assistance!

I have been trying to explain the free market viewpoint for a few days to the CompSci crowd, and I am unfortunately unable to adequately continue replying to all issues addressed. So far they've been very polite and fairly open minded, I am just getting swamped with replies.

If any of you could help me out here, that would be much appreciated!

http://www.reddit.com/r/compsci/comments/jmpj1/markets_are_efficient_if_and_only_if_p_np/

Posted Aug 19, 2011, 7:36 PM UTC · edited

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[deleted]•

This is the thread fig89 is talking about.

EDIT: Please don't do retaliatory downvoting. I think that hurts our cause.

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fig89OP•

woops i apparently dont understand how to format a post. Thanks!

an yeah no downvoting, thats just silly.

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XOmniverseMoney is good•

To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

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fig89OP•

Hooray for Arrows Impossibility Theorem, which shows that no matter how much computing power you have, it is impossible to design a function that could optimally allocate society's resources.

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Fmeson•

Hey, I arrived here through the random feature. Mind explaining what exactly your viewpoint is and how it relates to that discussion?

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selfoner•

A previous comment I made should sum it up pretty well:

The term “anarcho-capitalism” is unfortunate, in my opinion, as it is a contraction of 2 very contentious words which have come to mean all sorts of different things. I’ll do my best to explain what we actually mean when we talk about ancap.

  • anarcho-capitalists believe that self ownership is of primary concern…
  • that the right to control the fruits of our labor, or that which we are voluntarily given (inherited, traded, contracted, etc.) is the natural extension of this right to self ownership…
  • that the right to freely and voluntarily enter into contracts with others is another natural extension of the concept of self ownership…
  • that force is only justified in defense against an aggressor, be it upon a person, or upon their justly-acquired property (e.g. vandalism). We call this the non-aggression principle…
  • the “anarchism” in “anrcho-capitalism” is defined as the belief that the state is undesirable, and/or immoral, and/or unnecessary…
  • “the state” is defined as a coercive or aggressive monopoly…
  • “aggression” is defined as the initiation of the use of force, theft, or fraud, or threat thereof…
  • “capitalism” is defined as a market of voluntary exchange, free from aggression, from the state or otherwise (which is quite different than what is colloquially termed as “capitalism”, such as state/corporate cronyism, corporate welfare, and many other forms of aggression in the market)…
  • anarcho-capitalists believe that the free market is capable of providing protective and judicial services, in a vastly more just and efficient manner than the state…

So, to sum it up, we believe in self-ownership, property rights, and that all interactions between adult persons should be voluntary.

I'm not much of a computer scientist, so I'm not particularly qualified to talk about how ancap applies to compsci, but I think it basically has to do with applying economic market theory to the context of scientific models that would be familiar to a computer scientist.

Now we just need to find HowardRoarke to give you the official ancap welcome package.

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Fmeson•

How would you prevent force from both the gov. and other entities? Usually gov. force is used to prevent private aggression.

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selfoner•

How would you prevent force from both the gov. and other entities?

There are many, many books and articles on this subject that I would be happy to direct you toward if you are interested. But the short answer is that protection and legal services would be provided by private companies or non-profit organizations. Private fire-arms ownership by those who prefer it would be widespread.

Usually gov. force is used to prevent private aggression.

I would contend that gov force is used to assist private aggression more often than it is used to prevent it. Government/corporate protectionism and subsidies, laws against non-violent people (drug prohibitions, laws against homosexuality, etc.), and most importantly: aggressive wars to protect corporate interests.

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Fmeson•

Yeah, I would be interested if you have any easily available.

I suppose what I am most wary of is that the corruption of the state would just be spread to private organization as they grew in power and became more like miniature governments themselves.

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