Something Approaching Anarchy in Bluefields

[picaro]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=272&objectid=10491443&pnum=0

Residents remain so isolated from Central America they speak English and feel closer to Kingston than the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. To get here the traveller must fly a 25-year-old plane that looks like a fat pigeon and doesn't fly much faster. The outside of the fuselage is tagged with instructions on how to rescue victims after a crash "Cut Here for Easy Entry".

Even today, the Nicaraguan central government classifies Bluefields as an "Autonomous Area", meaning the government pretty much ignores the region.

At the local casino the payoffs are far less if the bet is placed in Nicaraguan currency, the cordoba. A roulette win, for example, pays 30-1 if the bet is in cordoba and 36-1 if the original bet was made in dollars.

"We don't even use the Nicaraguan currency here, to the South we use the colon (from Costa Rica), in the North we use the lempira (Honduran) and everywhere else it is the dollar," said Eugenio, a local fisherman.

"We only see politicians when there is an election - or a hurricane."

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Posted this before I finished the article.  The author neglected to mention the prison until the end. 

[picaro]

Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rindskopffer/200721626BluefieldsTrip

[error]

Holy shit, drugs, gambling, total anarchy and SOCIETY DIDN'T BREAK DOWN!

[John Edward Mercier]

But they're whole economy is dependent on the US restriction on cocaine.

[srqrebel]

But they're whole economy is dependent on the US restriction on cocaine.

True.  So even under an artificially induced leisure environment and drug culture (cocaine, of all things!), with virtually no police presence, society still didn't break down.

Downright confounding.

[John Edward Mercier]

Not if there isn't a 'struggle' for resources.
A co-worker that was involved with a local wolf refuge, once mentioned to me how 'docile' the wolves were... I stated 'Stop feeding them.'

Peaceful co-existance between animals is pretty common in an artificial environment.

[srqrebel]

Peaceful co-existance between animals is pretty common in an artificial environment.

True. 

Artificial environments are manmade.

Bluefields is an artificial environment that just happens to be an unintentional side-effect of the AMOG.

When a multitude of conscious minds work in unison, each looking out for its own long-term well-being by creating a superior artificial environment for itself through win-win interactions with others, the outcome is an intertwined, universal, permanent artificial environment that generates peace and prosperity -- the essence of Free Market/Voluntaryist Civilization.

[John Edward Mercier]

Without the struggle for resources you would end up with a orderly anarchy.
IMHO with the struggle for resources a chaotic anarchy would be more apt.

[srqrebel]

IMHO with the struggle for resources a chaotic anarchy would be more apt.

...except that the "struggle" for resources is nothing other than a side effect of the innovation-choking AMOG. 

Without the forced restrictions and parasitic burden of the AMOG, visionary entrepreneurs would be free to create solutions literally before the problems arise.  For example, within a decade we could be enjoying the luxury of molecule structuring nanobots, and never have to worry about resource depletion again.  And we would be populating the stars long before "over-population" of the Earth (minus the restriction of "national boundaries") could even become a real issue.

[Caleb]

I want to move there. It sounds like a great place. 

[John Edward Mercier]

Play nice Caleb.

[Russell Kanning]

Sounds like the Mennonite section of Belize in a couple of respects.