revolution as business

Online Meeting for AnCapEntrepreneur Network

MarkT — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:40:46 GMT

I'm planning a short monthly meeting on Saturday 28 May to discuss projects for the AnCap Entrepreneur Network. Details at http://ancapentrepreneur.net/2011/05/25/online-meeting-agenda-may/

Striking My Own Trail

ricarpe — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:16:35 GMT

Discussion forum is a bit unwieldy. Here's a link to my thread: http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/23886.aspx

Re: Beyond formal debates, books, and blogs.

AngelRS — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 02:59:05 GMT

Well, I'm a marketing consultant/advertiser. I know how to write promotional pieces, create campaigns, etc.

Re: Beyond formal debates, books, and blogs.

adsicks — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:06:49 GMT

If there is anyone with Liberty based images or products that would like an ecom outlet, let me know. I will make your entry into the marketplace as painless as possible, because I'm just that kind of guy ;)...

Here is a sample image gallery I just set up. I'm not a great designer myself, but I have the tools and know how to use them...

Re: Ancap ruby on rails developers here?

adsicks — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:00:45 GMT

I don't know the rails framework, but I am a seasoned php developer and know java and javascript solid. I understand OOP as I reorganized much spaghetti code into Class structures when I first got started in IT.

Do you have project management software? I can help with that also. I have been busy, but I will have some free time after March 25th.

Re: Ancap ruby on rails developers here?

Consultant — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:55:24 GMT

Thanks a lot for all the feedback! To answer all questions and remarks: 1. Feel free to post this wherever you want! I wrote a more detailed job post on hacker news: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2189849 2. I'm certainly open to building this in other languages (PHP, ...) and frameworks (Zend, ...). As I write in the detailed post on the hacker news website, the choice of technology will ultimately be a responsability of the technical co-founder. As a libertarian in the startup scene, could you please forward this startup idea to developers who think you're a good match? (Maybe yourself?) Thanks!

Re: Ancap ruby on rails developers here?

freeradicals — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:39:41 GMT

[quote user="Consultant"]Hi, Ruby on rails in the web development framework of the moment and with a good team in place, would make the idea most fundable by startup incubators such as YCombinator. Technically it's not a requirement to do it in RoR, but strategically I think it's best.

[/quote] I'm not sure about YCombinator but my business has already gone through a competing incubator in Philly, called DreamIt. Our project was entirely in PHP and I don't think the languages used had much of an affect on their decision. Those incubator admins looks for strength in the TEAM, not even the business idea or languages used etc, if there's good team synergy and dynamic then they are more likely to take you. I've also seen many projects fail because it's hard to find good developers in Ruby and when you do it's expensive. PHP is a bit better in this regard because there is a larger talent pool of PHP devs and it's a more mature language, especially if you use a good framework like the Zend Framework.

Re: Ancap ruby on rails developers here?

MarkT — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:12:09 GMT

I cross-posted this over at Fr33Agents.Net--can also put up a job posting (or a less formal message) on LinkedIn, if you like.

Re: Ancap ruby on rails developers here?

Consultant — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 04:22:43 GMT

Hi, Ruby on rails in the web development framework of the moment and with a good team in place, would make the idea most fundable by startup incubators such as YCombinator. Technically it's not a requirement to do it in RoR, but strategically I think it's best.

Re: Ancap ruby on rails developers here?

freeradicals — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 17:32:59 GMT

Is there a particular reason it must be done using Ruby on Rails?

Ancap ruby on rails developers here?

Consultant — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:45:15 GMT

Hi, I was wondering if there are ancap rails developers who visit this forum? I've recently acquired a very premium domain name judge.me and am looking to build an online court system. Interested in teaming up with an experienced ancap developer! My skills: - Experience as strategy consultant - Beginning rails developer (quick learner) - Best domain name possible for online judging system IMO

Re: AnCap Entrepreneur Network Group on LinkedIn

Consultant — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:41:45 GMT

Cool! I recently acquired a very premium domain name (judge.me) for an agorist business idea. Hopefully I'll find a partner via this group or your conference!

AnCap Entrepreneur Network Group on LinkedIn

MarkT — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:24:38 GMT

On LinkedIn? I've added a group there for the AnCap Entrepreneur Network so those of us interested in building businesses for a free society can find each other.

The group forwards newsfeeds from AnCapEntrepreneur.Net and "Revolution as Business" from the Mises Community.

It's all in preparation for an online conference on 25th March 2011 as part of Agora.IO. Mark your calendars!

Re: The Libertarian Business Machine

adsicks — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:02:44 GMT

You left the t off of .net in the link...

Re: The Libertarian Business Machine

MarkT — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:33:26 GMT

[quote user="Jaunas"]

Here is the challenge to the wider Libertarian movement, how do we begin to establish businesses that fit this definition? Where do I find the literature to move concepts into concrete and practical business plans? If there is such a place that has all this, or that I simply skipped over it or was too blind to notice it, please do tell. I want the manuals, the proposals, the organizations, the ground work and the know how to get the machine pumping.

I want to initiate the beginning of collaboration between like-minded entrepreneurs, innovators, academics, engineers, artists, business owners, students, computer programmers, accountants, lawyers, doctors, carpenters, investors and every other manner of working or non-working Pro-Liberty person to start moving beyond concept and into action. Our greatest power is our understanding of human nature, morality, natural rights and the most efficient way to allocate resources, we understand that humanity is free, but sadly is in chains. Let’s take that knowledge and make it work to our advantage. Make money and revolution.

[/quote] I set up the AnCap Entrepreneur Network website just before last year's Austrian Scholar's Conference. I need some help from early adopters to start growing a wiki with different business plans for different sectors. If you want to get involved, or know of similar projects I can partner with, please visit the site and get in touch with me. --Mark

Re: The Libertarian Business Machine

ChrisMaverick — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:31:48 GMT

Jaunus On the subject of developing Austrian principles, the issue often comes down to how does this extend to others when it is such an independent individualistic philosophy. Is this a contradiction? Or are there natural Austrian alliances that can grow organically, if structured appropriately? Surprisingly, I believe that there is a relatively simple model that is already working very effectively. Lets start at the beginning. The starting point is a small business, where there is good clarity about ownership, decision making, interaction with clients and suppliers, product and so on. The Austrian ideal is clearly set out in the earlier sections of Murray Rothbard's "Man, Economy, and State". It is based on free market interactions and "non-invasive" behavior. The question is, though, how can this model work sustainably for a collection of businesses as well as develop and grow. The main building block to introduce is property ownership. Individually and by district. It is clearly possible to identify all local businesses in a district, or any chosen area, where local means at least 50% ownership and autonomy of the business. An alliance of these businesses, with permanent residents, then forms a truly local entity in that district. Anyone else could be invasive or extractive to some extent of the district without being a true participant. In any case this formula provides a means of identifying who really lives and works in the district, and therefore who are naturally the property owners of the district. This local entity should then form part of the basis for local decisions. Even if they do not immediately influence all decisions they will soon at least provide a significant and truly local counterweight. Also they will then be able to make decisions about trade with other communities and become part of a network of like-minded communities and businesses. There is nothing stopping any of us from starting to freely engage others with a model like this. Indeed there is a movement that has been doing so for 10 years now and has 80 communities across the US. It is called BALLE - Business Alliance of Local Living Economies. Take a look at this video: http://www.pbs.org/now/fixing-the-future/picture.html I am not aware of anyone else drawing a link between Austrian ideas and BALLE, but I have been studying Austrian Economics for several years and engaging with BALLE for the last 18 months, and attended their annual conference last May. Most would not at first sight consider BALLE a naturally Austrian movement, but on examination you might well be surprised. Cheers, Chris.

Quotes

ChristopherAZ — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:13:25 GMT

A comprehensive collection of over 1,800 historical, philosophical, and legal quotations about the nature of government, freedom, liberty, money and more. Plenty of references to America's founders, as well as great minds throughout world history and present day. Famous notables from whom quotations are taken include Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, Voltaire, George Washington, Cicero, Cato, Ayn Rand, Frederic Bastiat, Aristotle, Friedrich Hayek, James Madison, H.L. Mencken, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, Alexis de Tocqueville, Thomas Paine and many more.
Citations to all sources are listed where available.

Re: Secure communications

Deefburger — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:03:18 GMT

I got the idea from many of the things you say. Mainly it was the learning of the use of cell phone minutes in third world countries in place of currency. That did it for me. I realized that the tech in a phone includes, these days, Bluetooth and WiFi with ad-hoc connection capability, and text messaging. With ad-hoc connections which can only happen physically locally, the central authority, in this case the cell phone company, can be eliminated from the causality of the exchange. But to do this, another system of trust must exist to replace that role lost by not using the cell phone company. Encryption was another problem that could be broken. So I figured if the data that was encrypted was encrypted with different keys, and distributed amoungst different elements, then a full decryption, even with quantum computation, would not be possible except through seizure of an entire communities units. With this in hand, I also realized that the distribution of the data also functions as a distributed backup of the data. A unit that is lost or stollen can be recovered by recreating it with the same encryption keys and passwords, and then recovering transaction history from the community. The stollen/lost unit could be flagged as such, and the new MAC address of the replacement unit would be replaced in the exchange data. No loss from stealing or seizure or circumstance. With an ad-hoc, multi-path routing protocol, the units can store and forward for those units they can see, when they see them. My favorite pastime, (when I'm not doing any of the other favorites), is thinking of third-world solutions to engineering problems. This struck me as a major third-world problem/solution that could find it's way back to first-world use pretty quickly. The biggest problem being the central control of monetary production/distribution, and the trouble that creates for the common man. If such a system found it's way back, the Central Banks and governments would fight it tooth and nail. But this fight would probably be the end of them, because their power is not sourced from their political position, but instead from their ability to seize funds. That ability would vanish with a trust system like mine. I tried to make it capable of sustaining direct attack in this way, and from that place.

Re: Secure communications

MichelleA — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:30:33 GMT

Ya, it dumps my formatting too, so I’ll just apologize now for what I’m sure will be the following huge paragraph. Deef, very interesting way of looking at things, I like the casino analogy. I also like the purity of your idea. But I think that it’s some thing that will happen only after people “trust”, or as I would put it, start to think its “normal” to exchange wealth outside of a state controlled banking system. What has gotten me exited about this stuff lately is how un-“crazy” online and international exchange has become. Paypal is a very well known, well respected business. I’ve been using paypal to send money to people back in the States and no one finds it unusual to use this private, internet based business to transfer wealth between countries and currencies. And to read about this stuff in Wired magazine, again a well know, well respected magazine that I picked up off the shelf at my local news stand. I feel that the technology is there and people are getting comfortable with it. But I’ve only been paying attention to this sort of thing for a few years now. So I’ll have to ask you guys….Do you feel that people are becoming more and more comfortable with new and internet based ways of transferring wealth? If you created buygoldtoexcapethestate.com, it might not do so well. But if you made paybuddy.com, and created an iphone app for it, well it might catch on. I think the way some thing like this would start to happen is to have a paypal like business who allows people to transfer money between currencies and to store money in a commodity via something like goldmoney.com. Of course you would still have to convert your gold into a fiat currency to buy groceries, but it would be a way for people to at least partially escape what I think is an impending serious inflation, and a way for them to grow more comfortable with alternative ways of doing things. Also, I don’t think most people think in terms of “centralized” or “de-centralized”, they simply use and trust things and are normal and that their friends use.

Re: Secure communications

Deefburger — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:30:34 GMT

Sorry about the giant paragraph. The system dumped my formatting!