NOTE: The policy of the ExI-Essay list is such that if an EXPLICIT notice allowing redistribution is not provided by the author of the essay, it will NOT be placed in the archive. However, summarizing and giving a pointer to the article is not infringement, so I take the liberty of doing so for those essays not included here for lack of explicit permission. You can tell which of the following belong to that category because their Filename is --------. Derek Zahn, archive maintainer (derek@cs.wisc.edu) List of Essays from the ExI-Essay list, in chronological order, including brief summaries: Date Filename Title Author --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09/01/92 josh.090192 National Defense in an Anarcho-capitalistic Society JoSH Summary: Anarchies will not start wars and will be in good shape to defend themselves because of their inherent efficiencies. Contact: josh@cs.rutgers.edu 09/02/92 chislenko.090292 Living Systems Alex Chislenko Summary: Commonalities exist between different complex systems, such as societies, making it fruitful to view them as 'living'. Contact: sasha@cs.umb.edu 09/06/92 zahn.090692 Well, Oh Yeah? Derek Zahn Summary: A response to Hilary Putnam's view that evolution produced our minds by lots of kludges, making AI an inherently infeasible task. Contact: derek@cs.wisc.edu 09/09/92 more.090992 Transhumanism: Towards a Futurist Philosophy Max More Summary: Religion provides a context for life's 'meaning' but is entropic. Extropian transhumanism provides a non-entropic alternative. Contact: more@usc.edu 09/17/92 johnson.091792 Extropian Book List Richard Johnson Summary: Extensive list of organizations, books, periodicals, etc, topically related to Extropian ideas. Contact: rdj%adpgate.uucp@apple.com 10/30/92 chislenko.103092 CLASS of all theories Alex Chislenko Summary: Brief thoughts on the class of all possible theories Contact: sasha@cs.umb.edu 11/01/92 cox.110192 Taming the Electronic Frontier Brad Cox Summary: Proposal for a course studying the future of information technology at George Mason University. Explanation and Syllabus. Contact: bradcox@sitevax.gmu.edu 11/01/92 shapiro.110192 Business and Capitalist Memes in China Harry A. B. Shapiro Summary: A brief call for a word for the meme or meme complex that allows a person to focus upon and to work towards life in an increasingly market-driven economy. Contact: habs@gnu.ai.mit.edu 11/20/92 -------- Reversible Agents Robin Hanson Summary: Preprint of 1992 IEEE Physics of Computation Workshop paper suggesting that AI as goal-directed behavior is non-reversible and thus must pay entropic penalties, especially for measuring the environment. Communication, however, may be much cheaper. Contact: hanson@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov 12/09/92 frissell.120992 Using Electronic Banking (1986) Duncan Frissell Summary: As even currently-available capabilities demonstrate, electronic banking does not destroy privacy, but rather enhances it. Contact: 76630.3577@CompuServe.COM 12/10/92 frissell.121092 Securities Market Changes (1986) Duncan Frissell Summary: Electronic and other speed-enhancing technologies have, and will continue to, revolutionize securities markets. Contact: 76630.3577@CompuServe.COM 12/16/92 kennaway.121692 Philosophical Implications of Uploading Richard Kennaway Summary: Unofficial contribution to Extropians list FAQ, exploring the issues raised by the possible methods of "uploading" -- transferring one's consciousness into non-biological media. Contact: jrk@information-systems.east-anglia.ac.uk 12/26/92 salsbury.122692 Oceania -- A Floating City Proposal Patrick G. Salsbury Summary: A proposal for the construction of a floating city-state, considering such issues as location, construction, power, trade, and food supply. Contact: salsbury@netcom.COM 12/27/92 crowley.122792 Multi-Nationals as the New World Order Rebecca Crowley Summary: Corporations are an alternative to current governmental structures. Contact: selene@blegga.cac.washington.edu 12/28/92 martinson.122892 Encryption Technology Yanek Martinson Summary: A largely non-technical overview of encryption technology, including public key cryptography and digital signatures. Contact: yanek@novavax.nova.edu 12/28/92 may.122892 The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto Timothy C. May Summary: Cryptologic techniques applied to electronic communications will change the nature of corporations and government interference in economics. Contact: tcmay@netcom.com 12/28/92 frissell.122892 How to Break the Law Duncan Frissell Summary: Practical suggestions for preparing for unlawful activity to minimize the consequences of being caught. Also, what to do if you do get caught. Contact: 76630.3577@compuserve.com 01/15/93 hanson.011593 Should Privately Enforced Laws Fix Punisment or Restitution? Robin Hanson Summary: A review of private law design, and a comparison of uniform law (dependent only on victim's complaint) and contingent law (depending on court-determined properties of the crime). Contact: hanson@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov 01/19/93 mcpherson.011993 Pro-Choice and Pro-Life John D. McPherson Summary: The abortion question can be broken into five basic issues, an analysis of which can be used to reconcile the pro-choice and pro-life positions. Contact: mcpherso@macvax.ucsd.edu 02/12/93 brown.021293 MADison Avenue Meets Cryonics? Kevin Q. Brown Summary: If cryonics is examined as a business competing for consumer attention with other ways of dealing with death, a rational "marketing strategy" could be developed to increase its acceptance and popularity. Contact: kqb@whscad1.att.com 02/14/93 -------- Love and Marriage or The Other-Self H A B Shapiro Summary: Fictional account of the development, and effects, of virtual reality systems focusing on sexuality. Contact: habs@panix.com 03/04/93 more.030493 The Terminus of the Self Max More Summary: In light of technical advances, traditional concepts of death are inadequate. The term 'deanimate' is introduced to describe a person who is traditionally dead, but theoretically revivable because the information content of his neocortex is retrievable. Chapter 4 of Max's PhD thesis. Contact: more@usc.edu 03/17/93 zahn.031793 Life is an N-Armed Bandit Derek Zahn Summary: Self-help technique based on searching for the optimal day using Genetic Algorithms. Contact: derek@cs.wisc.edu 03/24/93 szabo.032593 Uploading, Self-Transformation & Sexual Engineering Nick Szabo Summary: Uploaded persons will no longer (necessarily) have biological motivations and mechanisms, such as hormones. What does this imply and how can potential uploads prepare themselves? Contact: szabo@techbook.com 04/13/93 may.041393 Crypto Glossary Timothy C. May Summary: Extensive glossary of terms used in cryptography. Contact: tcmay@netcom.com 05/21/93 hanson.052193 Can Wiretaps Remain Cost Effective? Robin Hanson Summary: Policies to preserve wiretap abilities in the face of technological change must raise phone costs by less than one part in seven hundred to be cost-effective. Why not let a market decide if wiretaps make sense? Contact: hanson@ptelemy.arc.nasa.gov 05/23/93 shapiro.052393 Death and Dying Extropian Style Harry Shapiro Summary: Traditional rituals for mourning deanimation are filled with non-rational superstition and yet serve a vital purpose. We need guidelines for Extropian deanimation rituals. Contact: habs@panix.com 05/26/93 szabo.052693 Drexler Assemblers & The Origin of Life Nick Szabo Summary: Designing auto-catalytic networks that reproduce themselves isn't really the hard part; the hard part is the complexity of the manufacturing tasks that the resulting structures must perform. Contact: szabo@techbook.com 07/19/93 szabo.071993 Comet Mining -- An Overview Nick Szabo Summary: As sources of volatile materials, comets offer a wealth of resources for the industrialization of space. Here's the how and why of exploiting them.