Star Trek: First Contact

For the fans of E.E.(Doc) Smith, go see this movie.

OBCrypto: Data locks the main computer with a fractal cypher.

OBMoney: Picard states the they don't have money in the 24th century. 
Instead they work for the good of mankind.  Nanotechnology must have made
everything material possible, so the only reward left is status (aka
reputation).


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz       | The lottery is a tax on    | Periwinkle -- Consulting
(408)356-8506     | those who can't do math.   | 16345 Englewood Ave.
frantz@netcom.com |       - Who 1st said this? | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

The what is that gread for Gold-Latinum(sp?) all about? No money? Don't 
believe it.


-- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred

On Sat, 23 Nov 1996, Bill Frantz wrote:

> For the fans of E.E.(Doc) Smith, go see this movie.
> 
> OBCrypto: Data locks the main computer with a fractal cypher.
> 
> OBMoney: Picard states the they don't have money in the 24th century. 
> Instead they work for the good of mankind.  Nanotechnology must have made
> everything material possible, so the only reward left is status (aka
> reputation).
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Bill Frantz       | The lottery is a tax on    | Periwinkle -- Consulting
> (408)356-8506     | those who can't do math.   | 16345 Englewood Ave.
> frantz@netcom.com |       - Who 1st said this? | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
> 
> 
>

On Sat, 23 Nov 1996, Bill Frantz wrote:

> Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 00:57:06 -0800
> From: Bill Frantz <frantz@netcom.com>
> To: cypherpunks@toad.com
> Subject: Star Trek: First Contact
> 
> For the fans of E.E.(Doc) Smith, go see this movie.
> 
> OBCrypto: Data locks the main computer with a fractal cypher.
> 
> OBMoney: Picard states the they don't have money in the 24th century. 
> Instead they work for the good of mankind.  Nanotechnology must have made
> everything material possible, so the only reward left is status (aka
> reputation).

Why doesn't everyone have a starship?

> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Bill Frantz       | The lottery is a tax on    | Periwinkle -- Consulting
> (408)356-8506     | those who can't do math.   | 16345 Englewood Ave.
> frantz@netcom.com |       - Who 1st said this? | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
> 
> 
> 

--
Forward complaints to : European Association of Envelope Manufactures
Finger for Public Key   Gutenbergstrasse 21;Postfach;CH-3001;Bern
Vote Monarchist         Switzerland

Black Unicorn wrote:
| On Sat, 23 Nov 1996, Bill Frantz wrote:
| > For the fans of E.E.(Doc) Smith, go see this movie.
| > 
| > OBCrypto: Data locks the main computer with a fractal cypher.
| > 
| > OBMoney: Picard states the they don't have money in the 24th century. 
| > Instead they work for the good of mankind.  Nanotechnology must have made
| > everything material possible, so the only reward left is status (aka
| > reputation).
| 
| Why doesn't everyone have a starship?

	Becuase they've created an insidious welfare state so that no
one wants for basic human needs.  This has sapped the drive of most
people so far that only war generates new technology. Said new
technology is too expensive to give to the common man, who should be
satisfied watching Patrick Stewart, history's greatest Shakesperian
actor.

;)

Adam



-- 
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
					               -Hume

At 3:57 am -0500 11/23/96, Bill Frantz wrote:
>For the fans of E.E.(Doc) Smith, go see this movie.

Lensmen of the world untie your bracelets! Free yourselves from your weevil
capitalist masters!

>OBCrypto: Data locks the main computer with a fractal cypher.

Known source of entropy, those fractals. ;-). Ah... DreckPhysics. Gotta
love it.

>OBMoney: Picard states the they don't have money in the 24th century.
>Instead they work for the good of mankind.

Hrm. Looks like they're ripping off Iain Banks too. :-). First Niven, now
Banks. Life is hard when you have to keep that production pipe full...

>Nanotechnology must have made
>everything material possible, so the only reward left is status (aka
>reputation).

Funny, I didn't think they had nano in the 23rd century. Except for the
"Genesis Bomb". No, wait, that was matte painting, wasn't it?

Even Babylon 5, AKA "Science Fiction He Wrote", has a bigger clue.

Feh.

Yes. I know. Resistance is futile. I've been assimilated. I'll go anyway...

;-).

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga




-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com)
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson
The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

[ I freely admit this is noise ]

In list.cypherpunks, rah@shipwright.com writes:

> At 3:57 am -0500 11/23/96, Bill Frantz wrote:
>>For the fans of E.E.(Doc) Smith, go see this movie.
>
> Lensmen of the world untie your bracelets! Free yourselves from your weevil
> capitalist masters!

C'mon, both of you... 'First Contact' falls _way_ short of Doc Smithean
proportions.  Although Data's charade did kinda remind me of the fourth
Skylark book, in terms of plot-device rescue of a failing direction.
(IMHO, Doc Smith is the master of the over-the-top school of sci-fi
plotting)

> Even Babylon 5, AKA "Science Fiction He Wrote", has a bigger clue.

B5 is my current favorite TV sci-fi, when I even turn the damned thing
on.
- -- 
           Roy M. Silvernail     [ ]      roy@scytale.com
DNRC Minister Plenipotentiary of All Things Confusing, Software Division
PGP Public Key fingerprint =  31 86 EC B9 DB 76 A7 54  13 0B 6A 6B CC 09 18 B6
                Key available from pubkey@scytale.com

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBMpf1iRvikii9febJAQEK4wP+MEQIK5EoFf5UC9MQrm5MEeBcB1dhLsbQ
aB2ZxZ0DzRQX8YqYpSCVlnvBc9XvtGTvHq+hK0t88HRLv0vFnD6By+cZaOlFmwMM
NTXXpQl+PbYL0mNEEIZe+4ZmOrjsZSzROpuXBAu2t7ijaSp+PzGKV8Boq6BWfw+M
hNdqkK5friw=
=vMae
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

On Sat, 23 Nov 1996, Bill Frantz wrote:

> OBMoney: Picard states the they don't have money in the 24th century. 
> Instead they work for the good of mankind.  Nanotechnology must have made
> everything material possible, so the only reward left is status (aka
> reputation).

They travel faster than light, meet all kinds of life forms, 99.5% of
which are either humanoid of the same dimensions as terran humans too.
>From Gulliver (who had different sizes and species) to gullible.

They don't exchange anything?  DS9 indicated the academy used transporter
credits?  Replicator credits in Voyager?  Were they exchangable?  They
don't have money, they have credits.  They work for the good of mankind,
but get credits anyway.

Either space travel is paid for, or it is rationed, or both (I get on the
list, when my number nears the top, I change places with the highest
bidder).  How are finite (scarce) resources allocated?  A super computer
program (which may be considered fair, but I think the computer scientists
probably have the most luxuries in such a society).

Unless, earth decayed into a barter economy!

The Borg don't need money (individual exchange), but they don't seem to
have much use for minds (individual expression) either.

Acutally, Star-Trek is pure fiction.  Adam Smith and Ricardo proved
certain theorems in economics.  If Star Trek were at the same level of
science in astrophysics as economics, they would have to find a way
through the crystal spheres that let the sun and planets go around the
(flat) earth.  When they are not being bled to cure fevers (Captain - this
is Beverly Crusher - something terrible has happened - we've run out of
leeches!).

Economic Illiteracy is a problem.  People complain about not having wealth
but won't read the first book (Hidden Order by David Friedman is a good
start, he even has a web page with sample chapter and errata at
http://www.best.com/~ddfr).

Whither Latinum?

Actually one property of Latinum should be that it would be economically
inefficient to replicate or otherwise inflate.  Another that it should
have one or more unique properties that made it easy to authenticate.  And
it should be durable.  Gold had these in 1000 BC - Mines were few, A
"touchstone" could show if it was pure (v.s. dilution with silver), and it
doesn't rust.  In the 1800s fine-line engraving was the authentication and
anti-replication method of choice, since it was capital intensive to set
up, but you can tell if a geometric pattern is irregular.  Now we will
have cybercheques with digital signatures - forgeable if you have a
trillion dollars worth of computer time.

(see, it is on-topic).

tz@execpc.com
finger tz@execpc.com for PGP key

Are any of the characters in the new Star Trek gay?

I have heard rumor that Data was supposed to be.

Mark

Mark Allyn 206-860-9454 <allyn@allyn.com> writes:

> Are any of the characters in the new Star Trek gay?

The bold guy who plays Captain Picard is very gay in real life.
(He probably hated all those love episodes with women :-)

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

On Wed, 27 Nov 1996, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote:

> Mark Allyn 206-860-9454 <allyn@allyn.com> writes:
> 
> > Are any of the characters in the new Star Trek gay?
> 
> The bold guy who plays Captain Picard is very gay in real life.
> (He probably hated all those love episodes with women :-)
> 

Patrick Stewart is married, isn't he?

 --Deviant
   PGP KeyID = E820F015 Fingerprint = 3D6AAB628E3DFAA9 F7D35736ABC56D39

A casual stroll through a lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove
anything.
		-- Friedrich Nietzsche


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQEVAwUBMpzt2jCdEh3oIPAVAQHbnwf+NvpCdksFCALMF4bq/Uk4Cm09slO0uCS+
MBTDHZHjRnpSd2Dm8iHk2XkRfg6QLB79KVW3wWvT6wAClX5+cT7+KaMRuWZ5L5Ck
qxHCHK+S0Mm+lfVAWpRG/XR4U2SBwKMasi5sbTuyzumlDnkEIwbqEMBbdaWd6Z+r
CnYiVXEicmR29xCbfbRYdUbCpc/fgJHNOC4WetEt/9mdXEiXi26tzI2bF1TjvjtI
sr6grbrWQvW8EtIJukTPr0LK825xeOkGMNEhX09GlZS+7+5czV+4RxAHBVSWMupC
kgQV24pmAk8X/o8s6Y0dp/3GjEuJWIlY1s77hEBgt7vGVKcWsFdtFg==
=hvRL
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

The Deviant <deviant@pooh-corner.com> writes:
> >
> > > Are any of the characters in the new Star Trek gay?
> >
> > The bold guy who plays Captain Picard is very gay in real life.
>
> Patrick Stewart is married, isn't he?

To a man or a woman?

Meeeeauw!
Meeeeauw!
Meeeeauw!
Meeeeauw!

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps