Re: the future long term financial apocalypse of the USA

On Sat, 25 May 2024, William Hyde wrote:

D wrote:

  On Fri, 24 May 2024, Cryptoengineer wrote:
 

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

  On Thu, 23 May 2024, Kevrob wrote:
 

Sign.... D is a libertarian, and would be a fan of Ayn Rand if he's heard
of her.
 

 Rand loathed the Libertarians, as we let into our party all sorts
of folks who loved liberty, no matter what their justification
was for that love.  The Objectivist Popessa wanted everyone who agreed
with limited government to be a "Student of Objectivism." Those who
developed their own philosophical stances were accused of all sorts of
degeneracy, and/or of plagiarizing her.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_and_libertarianism

 I never understood the popularity of objectivism. It contains nothing
new and is just a collection of various strains of philosophy and
ideology that all existed way before Rand.
 But I suspect she had good skills when it comes to popularizing the
already existing thoughts as well as good cult building skills.
 

I used to be that way.
 But I grew up.
 Pt
 

 I suspect D of not being a minarchist, but an anarcho-capitalist.
I won't be starting any purges.

 It depends. I'm really not a fan of labels, since if I confess to being
X, plenty of people will then fill X with what they think it means and
if that then clashes with what I think it believes we'll just talk round
each other.
 Suffice to say that I hover around the
minarchist-anarcho-capitalist-libertarian-voluntarist spectrum. I think
probably the most useful thing is to ask me what I think about specific
questions.

 To get back to some ObSF, what works do you find resonate? L. Neil
Smith's 'Alongside Night'? Neal Stephenson's 'Diamond Age'?
Something else?

 Well, I do like Rands Atlas Shrugged and We the living, but that is of course not SF.
 In terms of SF, Neal Stephenson I appreciate, the early stuff, and Heinlein as well. The moon is a harsh mistress is good.
 Ohh... and then there was another one... Poul Andersons Nicholas van Rijn books, those are quite nice as well. =)
 Anything else, based on that, you could recommend?

>
Ken MacLeod's "The Stone Canal" is a portrait of a libertarian society that works.  Even has the kind of courts you favor.  It is a companion novel to his "The Cassini Division" a portrait of a communist society that works.
>
When I say "works"  I mean that both persist despite serious external threats.  Neither is a paradise.
>
Somewhere in the archives there is a thousand post discussion of the book. Best avoided.
>
>
William Hyde

Thank you very much William, will have a look. I it does ring a bell. Also it could be fun to pick up the communist one to contrast!