Re:Four UK men arrested over Silk Road links
by stcredzero on Tuesday October 08, 2013 @01:27PM
(#6516410)
> What happens when the nerd who realizes the absurd amount of money that they can make approaches it like a drug empire? Or rather, what happens when an engineer starts trying to engineer themselves an anonymous drug empire? Not a political experiment, but a true-blue drug cartel?
Drug cartels as currently realized have some serious downsides. Like physical safety. Or to put it another way, in exchange for crazy wealth, you've eroded the base of your Maslow pyramid and polluted virtually all of your interpersonal relationships.
SR sidestepped most of the physical jeopardy, but didn't manage to sidestep the legal jeopardy and the overhead of paranoia this entails.
If someone really smart goes about building the next SR, then it may involve a clever way to sidestep the legal jeopardy as well.
Drug cartels as currently realized have some serious downsides. Like physical safety. Or to put it another way, in exchange for crazy wealth, you've eroded the base of your Maslow pyramid and polluted virtually all of your interpersonal relationships.
SR sidestepped most of the physical jeopardy, but didn't manage to sidestep the legal jeopardy and the overhead of paranoia this entails.
If someone really smart goes about building the next SR, then it may involve a clever way to sidestep the legal jeopardy as well.