Re: virus: Stone Societies

KMO (c538128@mizzou1.missouri.edu)
Tue, 2 Jul 1996 14:45:50 -0500


>I was genuinely excited to come across a new (for me) system in the
>socio-economic arena.

Me too. I recomend that everyone read it. what's that URL again?

>
>I'm also interested in a critical analysis of the Stone Society proposal.
>Is it feasible, and if so, is it better than its competition? (I guess my
>engineering bias is showing through in the order of those questions :-)

It seemed to me that enterprises that depended on stones that were more
than three or four positions removed from their originators would be very
short lived. However, I think nature provides examples of complex patterns
that acheive stability in very dynamic and chaotic environments, e.g.
Jupiter's red spot. Some social institutions would likely find the right
balance for cohesion in a stone society.

I'd really like to see someone work up a complex multiplayer simulation
like Sid Myer's "Civilization" in which the players worked to acheive their
various individual goals but had to work collectively using a stone-based
system to allocate resources, enact treaties, and so forth. There should
definitely be a military componenet to the simulation, as one of the aleged
advantages of the stone system is that it decreases the effectiveness and
desirablity of war.

Okay, you got me. I really just want to justify spending countless hours
playing a hyped-up version of Civ with a bunch of intelligent opponents,
but I think, aside from being a heck of a lot of fun, the experience would
yeild some valuable insights concerning the merits of the stone system.

Take care. -KMO

Resistance is futile.
http://missouri.edu/~c538128/