Comments on: Archipelago and Atomic Communitarianism

By: Monoatheism | nydwracu niþgrim, nihtbealwa mæst

Monoatheism | nydwracu niþgrim, nihtbealwa mæst — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 19:59:57 +0000

[…] Archipelago is Patchwork for monoatheists. Metamonarchy […]

By: Two cheers for exit-as-threat, or dialectical lumpenconservatism | The Mitrailleuse

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 14:09:44 +0000

[…] Benningham while I stock up on assault weapons in Sedona. Call it a patchwork, or an archipelago, whatever you call it we’re dealing with an ambi-ideological concept. Anyway, it must be […]

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By: Exit / No Exit | The Mitrailleuse

Exit / No Exit | The Mitrailleuse — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 21:16:09 +0000

[…] actual Libertarians such an extreme position on Exit as to view it a good over all other goods (see Slate Star Codex’s archipelago.) That logic may lead to a perverse place: A world of quasi-sovereigns that cannot prevent people […]

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By: Exit and the left | The Mitrailleuse

Exit and the left | The Mitrailleuse — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 17:32:00 +0000

[…] a new one. This is a rather constrained definition, but the one Scott Alexander used in his essay which inspired […]

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By: TGGP

TGGP — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:05:19 +0000

You are not a clone of either parent. Politics is heavily influenced by genetics, but it does not appear to be 100%. Also, if there are age effects on politics, it will still look highly “heritable”, even if you have to reach your parents’ age to match their politics.

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By: TGGP

TGGP — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:58:04 +0000

It was reading Chandran and Jacob Levy that convinced me I am such an extreme “pluralist” I can’t be considered liberal. That post also leads into my disagreements with Scott on necessary educational preconditions.

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By: TGGP

TGGP — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:49:40 +0000

Sounds mostly good, although I’d have much less faith in your World Government. After all, you can’t escape that. Ideally there would be treaties between communities, but I understand it can be difficult to scale that.

The great point made by Patri Friedman about seasteading is that when viewing governance as an industry, entry is incredibly difficult. It’s not the total stock of nations which is the problem, but the flow. Even if there were fewer countries, if it was easy for someone to create a new one, that would have a big impact. And yes, most people might not bother moving, but as long as marginal consumers have that option it can lead to more consumer surplus for the continuing customers of the former monopoly.

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By: rrb

rrb — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 15:29:03 +0000

I want to convince you that America is a little more Archipelago-like than you think. I mean, I want you to think that there’s a little more politically-motivated movement than you currently do.

I’m a first year grad student. People applying to grad school are already committed to moving. And when they decide where they’re moving, a significant fraction make the decision based on culture or values. Significant enough that I know a few, in my peer group of people who recently made the decision where to go to grad school.

It’s not quite “politically motivated”, although it’s close, and for some the difference in politics seems inseparable from the difference in culture. But it’s not for “business or family reasons.”

Okay, well, yes, it is for business reasons, it’s to get educated. Professional reasons, to speak more broadly.

But my point is that people who are already moving for professional reasons make politically or culturally motivated decisions about where to move to. Which increases Archipelego-like aggregation of people with similar values.

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By: Hrothgar

Hrothgar — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 12:49:50 +0000

At risk of sounding too slippery-slopey, ı do wonder about the conservative Christian law school in Canada: Should the school still be allowed to ban gays and sexy people if the school was the unrivaled Best School in the country?—as in, if you want a good law education, really your only option is Holy Christ Law School?

The “let everyone do what they want in their communities” works as long as there are enough communities, but if one community holds far more resources than the others, what happens then?

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By: a person

a person — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 15:32:28 +0000

I agree with most of your points but I don’t think that learning of the existence of other cultures would jeopardize moral development too much. If a kid in Conservaland hears about Hedontopia, his parents can just tell him “Yeah, those guys exist, but they’re evil and crazy and stupid and they’re everything we hate,” and the kid will probably grow to hate them too, unless he finds a reason to distrust his society completely, in which case he is the one that this sort of education was meant for.

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