From: laelth@yabbs
To: arachnoi@yabbs
Subject: yawn
Date: Sun Apr 10 04:57:19 1994

Sorry folks,
    I kinda suspected that arachnoi would respond poorly to
my half-jesting questions about his investment in this board.
I also tried to "head him off at the pass" by telling him that 
I wasn't interested in his answers to my questions.  He chose to
give us some answers anyway, but they weren't really answers, were
they?  Given his rather defensive replies, I'd guess that I hit him
a little too close to home.  Sincerest apologies for that, arachnoi.
Nothing personal, ;)

    Next point:  this board has gotten a little self-righteous, hasn't
it?  Why so much censorship?  Why so many people telling us what is
and what isn't appropriate?  Who are they to mandate what should and
should not be said?  Isn't this supposed to be some kind of "free"
forum of communication?  Just a thought ...

    Good point:  Ok, all the boring stuff aside (this is a statement of
personal preference, not a mandate about what you should or should
not do.  Please, feel free to bore me to tears, but I reserve the 
right to call you boring), the stuff about the ray gun is really
interesting.  Here's my two cents about the ultimate weapon.  Only the
powerful, entrenched entities (govenrments and big businesses, 
institutions with a strong investment in the status quo) have the 
resources to develop the really powerful weapons, and the new 
technologies.  Thus, any new weapon (if it's powerful) will be strictly
controlled by the govt. that produces it.  Take nukes, for example.  
The Oppenheimers of the world (technocrats) get the shaft while the
govt. that bankrolled their research gets the power and the control
over the weapon.  Who has F-16s?  The technocrats that designed them?
No, the govt. keeps control over weaponry very efficiently.  The same
will be the case for the ray gun. No matter who designs it, the govt.
will insure that it controls the weapons construction and distribution.
It's pointless, therefore, to discuss what people will do "when they get
the weapon," because they won't, at least not until "the powers that be"
have a better weapon.

In the spirit of free exchange,

-laelth

P.S.  Think about it people.  Perhaps a flame every now and then is really 
appropriate.