Delicious LiveJournal Links for 6-6-2010

[andrewducker]

• Was Robert A. Heinlein a Libertarian?
  (tags: politics scifi heinlein libertarianism)
• Egyptian court urges the government to strip the citizenship of Egyptian men who marry Israeli women.
  (tags: egypt israel EpicFail)
• Autism finding could lead to simple urine test for the condition. I'm somewhat sceptical, but intrigued.
  (tags: autism)
• London pub refuses to serve gay customers
  (tags: gay rights uk)
• Unpacking the invisible knapsack - straight privilege edition
  (tags: privilege homosexuality sexuality heterosexuality)
• The Lord of the Rings Online is going Free-To-Play this Autumn
  (tags: lotr mmorpg free gaming)

Comments

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

My impression is that in his earlier books, Heinlein presented a wide variety of political systems as working reasonably well, but in his later books, he was explicitly libertarian. Or possibly sort of a libertarian nihilist-- libertarianism works for small groups, but nothing works above a certain population level.

I've only read The Cat Who Walks Through Walls once, but iirc, it includes an attack on the idea that having everything be property will necessarily lead to good outcomes.

[andrewducker]

Certainly in Time Enough For Love he has Lazarus Long liking colonising new planets because they haven't got enough people on them yet to need lots of rules.

I think that Dunbar's Number comes into play in these kinds of situations. If you can't keep track of all the people in your head then you need stronger rules in place to deal with problems that won't just get solved by people acting well.

Of course, things like reputation can help (see Ebay's rating systems, for instance) but this has limitations of its own (they can be gamed).

[gravityslave.livejournal.com]

That last link makes me soooo happy! I've been waiting for the game since before it came out but was too broke to play once it came out of beta. Now I'll be able to play anyway!
::dance of joy::

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

They still have lifetime subscription on offer... be VIP for life and get free expansions (for points), etc.

[gravityslave.livejournal.com]

That's good to know, thanks! I'll go see if I can afford it... :)

[gravityslave.livejournal.com]

Also, here's a story that may interest you. I posted it on my lj as well, but I feel like it needs... more inertia, I guess.

http://wonkette.com/415809/arizona-school-demands-black-latino-students-faces-on-mural-be-changed-to-white