The Speculist

As James C. Bennett pointed out in The Anglosphere Challenge and in his recent podcast interview with Phil and I, English speaking nations have been successful in large part because they are part of a "high trust" society. The Anglosphere civil society facilitates all sorts of interaction - commerce included.

The Internet has the power to extend and expand these interactions.

Over the last six months I've been shopping, off and on, for a cheap laptop computer for my children. I had hoped that those $100 laptops that are part of that charitable program for the third-world might turn into a for-profit venture here at home - maybe a Fischer-Price $200 kid-proof laptop.

I got tired of waiting on Fischer-Price or Mattel to deliver on that, so I went to eBay and started searching. As I shopped I kept adding features that would not be found on the $100 version. My requirements: wifi (preferably internal), be able to play the kid's DVDs, and use Windows XP. I wanted it to have a processor speed of a 1 Ghz or better, 256 MB ram or better, and a 20 GB harddrive or better.

I found a computer that fit those requirements (although the wifi is from a PCI card rather than internal) for $380 plus $30 shipping.

That might seem a bit much, but I was attracted also by the complete Windows XP Professional Office suite - (Word, Excel, etc.) which is typically $200. I know, this computer is supposed to be for the kids, but if I can get some work done on it too, why not?

Anyway, I bought that computer even though the seller was careful to say that there was no guarantee on the battery. Of course the battery was DOA. What a hassle! The cheap-laptop-for-the-kids idea was turning out not to be so cheap.

I shopped locally for a replacement battery and was not happy with the price. So again, I returned to eBay. As always I looked for a seller with a good feedback score who was selling at a competitive price. $60 got the battery delivered.

I was a bit surprised when the battery arrived. Not with the battery. It works fine and the kids are happily surfing the net all over house. But from the postmarks on the box the battery was obviously shipped directly from China. The battery itself was made in Malaysia.

Because of the Internet, and those companies like eBay that have worked out successful models for harnessing the Internet, people from all over the world can participate in "high trust" society. And, Army of Davids style, a single consumer can bypass distribution channels to have a battery made in Malaysia shipped directly from China.

My battery auction was set up by an American who had built up a good feedback score by finding people in Asia who would reliably drop-ship directly to the U.S. The seller wouldn't have had to be American. The feedback score was the key to my trust. This gives anybody anywhere, even outside of high trust societies, the opportunity to prove that they can be trusted.

High trust society is portable.

Update: This guy is building his own $100 laptop.