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> humans already come from nature with capacity for ... conflict resolution ...

Um, I don't think so. Conflict resolution is the main obstacle to the viability of entirely voluntary ("anarchist") organization. That's why it's the self-defining function of any government, even the most minimal.



How often do you find yourself needing third-parties to arbitrate your interactions?

Because for me, outside some formal processes I do for my job, it has been well over a decade since I needed someone to mediate my interactions with someone else.

People are very good at conflict resolution. They only see the cases where it doesn't work out.


People are very good at conflict resolution because third-party arbitration is available as a last resort. They aren't nearly as good at it in e.g. the average Third-World country, where fair and impartial courts are not generally available.


Do you think Somalia is like some never-ending Stallone movie?

Business still gets done. People work, get paid, buy things without knifing each other. It is true that without recourse to state institutions, there is more non-state-sanctioned violence, which is kind of definitional, but also true in absolute terms.

But enormous amounts of daily interaction goes on with humans demonstrating perfectly normal abilities to compromise without killing each other.

This is another form of 'elite panic' - the belief that The Lord of the Flies is just around the corner if Officer Smiley stands down. People don't behave that way in reality.


Since there are a few places on the planet where anarchy sort of reigns like in Somalia, I would like to challenge my anarchic brethren to go try those places for even just 3 months and come back and tell me about their adventures.


First, you assume I'm an anarchist, simply because I'm trying to describe reality instead of pushing an agenda.

Second, you somehow think "scary place hurrr silly anarchist just doesn't want to admit..." is a killer argument. It is just slightly recast version of the "If you like communism so much then move to Russia" schoolyard silliness.

If you want to discuss how political theory intersects the real world, I love that stuff. If you just want to convince yourself anarchists are dumb, that's boring and I'm out.


> It is true that without recourse to state institutions, there is more non-state-sanctioned violence

You're not really selling your case very well here...


I think he meant more non-state-sanctioned violence, because there is no state to do it for you


Again this is taking the position that anarchism would need it's "government program" to justify itself and then maybe society could see about moving over to that program, I don't think that's the point, as I've argued in my previous comment.




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