Medieval Iceland: Proof Anarchocapitalism Works

[Lex]

Once we have thousands of tuaths all over the place, how do we keep track of all the different laws that each tuath has so that we don't violate someone elses laws?

When in Rome do as the Romans do. When in Greece do as the Grecians do. We have hundreds of countries, with most countries having states or regions. Each has their own laws. How do we survive now? Tolerance and decency.

Sure, but as far as I know all present governments work via location. A tuath is not dependent on location, since two neighbors can be part of different tuaths, correct?

[AlanM]

Once we have thousands of tuaths all over the place, how do we keep track of all the different laws that each tuath has so that we don't violate someone elses laws?

When in Rome do as the Romans do. When in Greece do as the Grecians do. We have hundreds of countries, with most countries having states or regions. Each has their own laws. How do we survive now? Tolerance and decency.

Sure, but as far as I know all present governments work via location. A tuath is not dependent on location, since two neighbors can be part of different tuaths, correct?

Correct, which means you have to treat everyone about you with respect. You are not responsible for what the other tuaths choose to make for laws, if you are not of their tuath. It is their responsibility to inform you of their laws and customs, as it is your responsibility to them. 

[Lex]

Here's a hypothetical:

You and your neighbor are in different tuaths. Your tuath does not care about loud music but their tuath does not allow loud music. It is very likely that a majority of the people in the no-loud-music tuath all hate loud music and the opposite is true in the tuath that allows loud music. It seems to me like there would be constant bickering between the two tuaths especially if the tuaths cover the same location. In this situation the two tuaths are incompatible with each other... What are the possible solutions?

[AlanM]

Here's a hypothetical:

You and your neighbor are in different tuaths. Your tuath does not care about loud music but their tuath does not allow loud music. It is very likely that a majority of the people in the no-loud-music tuath all hate loud music and the opposite is true in the tuath that allows loud music. It seems to me like there would be constant bickering between the two tuaths especially if the tuaths cover the same location. In this situation the two tuaths are incompatible with each other... What are the possible solutions?

Consideration. If no compromise can be reached, it will be necessary for one of the parties to move.

[Lex]

Here's a hypothetical:

You and your neighbor are in different tuaths. Your tuath does not care about loud music but their tuath does not allow loud music. It is very likely that a majority of the people in the no-loud-music tuath all hate loud music and the opposite is true in the tuath that allows loud music. It seems to me like there would be constant bickering between the two tuaths especially if the tuaths cover the same location. In this situation the two tuaths are incompatible with each other... What are the possible solutions?

Consideration. If no compromise can be reached, it will be necessary for one of the parties to move.

Who does all the negotiation?

[AlanM]

Here's a hypothetical:

You and your neighbor are in different tuaths. Your tuath does not care about loud music but their tuath does not allow loud music. It is very likely that a majority of the people in the no-loud-music tuath all hate loud music and the opposite is true in the tuath that allows loud music. It seems to me like there would be constant bickering between the two tuaths especially if the tuaths cover the same location. In this situation the two tuaths are incompatible with each other... What are the possible solutions?

Consideration. If no compromise can be reached, it will be necessary for one of the parties to move.

Who does all the negotiation?

This is not something the tuath would do the negotiating for. It is a matter between neighbors.

[Lex]

Here's a hypothetical:

You and your neighbor are in different tuaths. Your tuath does not care about loud music but their tuath does not allow loud music. It is very likely that a majority of the people in the no-loud-music tuath all hate loud music and the opposite is true in the tuath that allows loud music. It seems to me like there would be constant bickering between the two tuaths especially if the tuaths cover the same location. In this situation the two tuaths are incompatible with each other... What are the possible solutions?

Consideration. If no compromise can be reached, it will be necessary for one of the parties to move.

Who does all the negotiation?

This is not something the tuath would do the negotiating for. It is a matter between neighbors.

In that case what is the purpose of the tuath?

[AlanM]

Here's a hypothetical:

You and your neighbor are in different tuaths. Your tuath does not care about loud music but their tuath does not allow loud music. It is very likely that a majority of the people in the no-loud-music tuath all hate loud music and the opposite is true in the tuath that allows loud music. It seems to me like there would be constant bickering between the two tuaths especially if the tuaths cover the same location. In this situation the two tuaths are incompatible with each other... What are the possible solutions?

Consideration. If no compromise can be reached, it will be necessary for one of the parties to move.

Who does all the negotiation?

This is not something the tuath would do the negotiating for. It is a matter between neighbors.

In that case what is the purpose of the tuath?

A tuath is meant to be a general set of guidelines or rules, that expedite relationships between people. The purpose is to replace what commonly exists today, which is involuntary laws, with a voluntary system of rules. It is not meant to be all encompassing.
In Medieval Ireland, the brehon arbitrated based on an ancient system of common law. The brehon did not belong to a tuath, but mediated all sorts of things between members of different tuaths.
I feel it is important to set up an equally impartial group of arbitrators who can handle disputes between parties both of the same tuath, and different tuaths, taking into account the differences between tuaths rules. Perhaps an all encompassing tuath code of ethics will be required. Each tuath must adhere to certain basic principles. If some tuaths wish to go it totally alone, that is fine, but co-operation between tuaths will most likely be restricted, as will the interaction of members.

[AlanM]

For instance, one basic principle that all associated tuaths might require is the ZAP. Individual tuaths may go farther, and in different directions, but the basis of everything would be ZAP.

[Michael Fisher]

Ken and I have been discussing these subjects at length and have come up with some very exciting ideas.  We envision a tuath as a voluntary membership-based business entity with protection, reputation management, and surety contract assistance services.

The tuath would have nothing to do with arbitration which, in a free society, would be implemented in the form of professional independent arbitration jurists that are selected based on their reputation as arbitrators and knowledge of tuath laws and common surety contracts.

Services could be based on monthly membership fees or per-use fees.

We see the most important aspect of a tuath as the ability to establish and maintain an open reputation-management system for all individuals and organizations from the perspective of the tuath's membership, then link this reputation-management system to others with the value of reputation calculations dependent upon variables set by the tuath's membership.  We believe this movement can begin by developing an open-source online reputation-management system.  We're probably going to start creating it in PHP to run on a MySQL database.

Because it is open source, this model for a tuath can be copied by anyone for their own personal adaptation of a tuath reputation management system.  After the idea is established in one area, there's nothing stopping it from spreading without limit.   

[AlanM]

Mike,
I'm very interested to hear what you and Ken have developed.

[Michael Fisher]

I can't wait to hear everyone else's ideas and see what they think about this when we present it to them. 

[Michael Fisher]

The reason why I think the reputation management system is so important is because knowledge of a person or organization's reputation and history is central to protecting yourself.

If you want to protect yourself against a bad manicure in a free society, you just look up the reputation of the manicurist beforehand.? The same goes with anything or anyone else.? Knowledge is safety.

The only downside is that one's reputation will be permanently available for all to see, so a significant amount of anonymity will be lost.? If you go deep into debt, for example, the bank will note this on your public reputation.

Fortunately, trust can be significantly increased by surety contracts, a form of literally cosigning to someone's reputation and thus taking partial responsibility for another.? As a service, a tuath could help people set up recommended surety contracts between each other.? A basic surety contract to the tuath could be a requirement of all members.

An independent financial reputation management system already exists today, and eBay also has a reputation management system.  A tuath's reputation management system will be much more all-encompassing than for financial transactions alone. 

[AlanM]

The reason why I think the reputation management system is so important is because knowledge of a person or organization's reputation and history is central to protecting yourself.

If you want to protect yourself against a bad manicure in a free society, you just look up the reputation of the manicurist beforehand.? The same goes with anything or anyone else.? Knowledge is safety.

The only downside is that one's reputation will be permanently available for all to see, so a significant amount of anonymity will be lost.? If you go deep into debt, for example, the bank will note this on your public reputation.

Fortunately, trust can be significantly increased by surety contracts, a form of literally cosigning to someone's reputation and thus taking partial responsibility for another.? As a service, a tuath could help people set up recommended surety contracts between each other.? A basic surety contract to the tuath could be a requirement of all members.

An independent financial reputation management system already exists today, and eBay also has a reputation management system.? A tuath's reputation management system will be much more all-encompassing than for financial transactions alone.?

Will the database be open for everyone to see? or will it be limited to members of the tuath?

[Michael Fisher]

Will the database be open for everyone to see? or will it be limited to members of the tuath?

Everyone will have free public access to view and change reputations, but modifying someone else's reputation cannot be done anonymously.? All reputation changes are recorded and available to the public.? Beause of this, changing someone's reputation without a well-described reason is seriously discouraged and will result in damage to your own reputation.

At this point, I'm not yet sure how much personally-identifying information will be needed or allowed in someone's reputation.

Any person or organization may initiate arbitration, through one or more professional independent arbitrators, against any changes to their reputation ratings.? If the burden of proof is met to prove fraud, the rating can be nullified and a description of the arbitration added, but the record of the initial rating cannot removed.? This will negatively affect the reputation of the source of the problem.

A bad reputation is not the end of your life.? Your reputation can be improved in countless ways.? For example, even a thief could theoretically have a good reputation many years down the road given full restitution, forgiveness, and vast good deeds, but the initial act will leave a permanent stain on their reputation which will always have many bad effects.

It will be very difficult for anyone to escape their own reputation and create a new one from scratch, especially within a local community.? If anyone ever finds out who they were, their new reputation will be quickly linked with their old one.

The idea is to start with a local version of this system and grow it from there.?