Thursday, December 06, 2012
Supernerd caught
Been sort of following the McAfee story, mostly because it reminds me of earlier supernerds like Herbert Yardley or J.J. Angleton or Bill Clinton. Always playing 10-dimensional chess with the world, staying 20 moves ahead of all possible adversaries, blowing 30 layers of deceptive smoke until nothing can be .... Oops! One of his accomplices forgot to remove the meta-data from a digital photo, and lesser nerds picked up the data.
Supernerds are always brought down by ego, not by intelligence. They're so accustomed to looking WAY DOWN on the rest of humanity that they forget other people have SOME limited brainpower.
According to UK Guardian, the whole problem started with ego:
"McAfee says he has been persecuted by Belize's ruling party because he wouldn't pay out some $2 million to it."
Randian thinking laid bare. I am supersmart. I am superman. I am Maker. I am Above All Mere Humans. How dare you charge me for protection! Taxation is Theft. You shall protect me without being paid, because you are mere Parasite, mere Taker. The privilege of My Holy Radiant Presence in your parasitical midst is all the payment you deserve.
Doesn't work that way, John. It might work in good old USA because your fellow Randians/Rosenbaumians are in control here. But in a sane country, you pay for protection one way or another. Where formal taxes are low, informal taxes are high.
¶ 3:30 AM 
