> On 17 Dec 96 at 14:29, zaimoni@ksu.edu wrote:
[CLIP]
> > "Who controls" is important; so is "relative effectiveness". Compare a
> > medieval fortress vs. medieval army to Mutual Assured Destruction as
> > warfare technology/technique. Heuristically, an anarchy prefers something
> > like the former in power balance, *not* the latter.
>
> Agreed, but is it not still related to power differentials, but
> rather than disparaties between the technologies wielded by states
> (or the equivalent term in an anarchic society for large collections
> of individuals) the differences are between the technologies wielded
> by states vs those wielded by individuals. So while MAD struck a
> power balance between superpowers, no balance was struck between
> nation and individual.
We're seeing slightly askew.
You are correct; technology is not the only expression of power capable
of creating a power differential. However, it is the most visible.
However, I'm aiming at a different analogy than what you keyed into.
There is a huge difference between "months of conflict to overpower
[violation of anarchic law?]", and "minutes of conflict to overpower
[violation of anarchic law?]".
I'm interpreting off of Drakir's comments, but there do seem to be at
least an undocumented set of conventions behind an anarchy.
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