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Vortex Guardian : defense of open space

click triangles and ••• links — April 13, 2010, 6:30 am Denver

 
 
Open space is characterized by limits that serve quest. Closed space is characterized by limits that obstruct quest. Human social systems exist on a continuum between closed space and open space. Freeorder is a network dependent upon and emergent from well-made boundaries. This vortex is about the defense of open space.

Sought outcome: geographic and virtual spaces within which freeorder thrives. References to counterinsurgency pertain to what is required to keep the defended space free of predators and hospitable to sovereign producers, whether individuals or groups.
Sometimes the insurgents are the good guys, and sometimes the bad guys, and sometimes, confusingly, both in different aspects. Explorers must ask, "What's good for us?" Consider the American revolt against the British Government: A successful outcome for the insurgents led to greater open space for explorers. On the other hand, in Iraq, 2007, a victory for the insurgents would have led to contraction of open space.
A Note on Two Kinds of Guardians (defenders of openspace)
There are those who protect us against predators, and those who protect us against actual and aspiring "good masters".
These two kinds of guardians are natural allies. Eventually predators find that good masters create conditions that make predation less costly and more invisible or acceptable to the ruled population.
The Problem: Descriptions
Article in City Journal, recommended by Robert Himber.
Glyphs
445 The Terminal Instability of Democracy — Eric S. Raymond
110 "For your tomorrow, we gave our today"
Resources
Whiskey & Gunpowder ••• — devoted to surviving the predations of kleptocratic governments: "The independent investor's daily guide to gold, commodities, profits and freedom."
Tipping Point Zero Day Initiative ••• — a brilliantly constructed enterprise offering protection against software attacks.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
"On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs" - article by Dave Grossman, recommended by Chris Huston
Freeports & Freezones
Moment of Truth in Iraq, by Michael Yon, April 2008 — Richard Vigilante Books
Counterinsurgency
Ventures providing defensive services
It's time to direct resources from drug prohibition to defense against violent disrupters of civilization. We must decide comparative importance. Law enforcement professionals need not fear for loss of work. There's plenty to be done.
Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics, by Jane Jacobs — provides a useful conceptual framework, especially in the definition and description of the "guardian" way of life and thought.
20Feb08: Interested in the evolution of the guardian business. Has there ever been an approach to this that is fully consistent with a free-market point of view? Looking for clues to such thinking. Interested in business structures that fully engage the interest of guardians in the growth of the capital assets they protect, structures that offer gains from the protection of productivity and that obsolete reversion to predatory behavior. -leif
Participants in this vortex

.oOo.