Jeremy Sapienza

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Jeremy Sapienza is an American political writer and thinker. He is an internet entrepreneur and, as the founder of Anti-State.Com, a leading spokesman for modern market anarchism. He is also the main proponent of Control Decay Theory, which holds that as wealth grows, spheres of control diminish. He is openly gay.

His philosophy is a blend of thought of American individualist anarchists such as Josiah Warren, Lysander Spooner, and Benjamin Tucker, British liberal anarchists, such as Auberon Herbert and Herbert Spencer and French laissez-faire liberals, such as Frédéric Bastiat.

Sapienza has written for libertarian websites such as LewRockwell.com, but now rejects the libertarian label. He is the Senior Editor of Antiwar.com and currently resides in New York, New York.

[edit] Control Decay Theory

The Control Decay Theory was developed by Sapienza in discussions on Anti-State.Com. It states that as wealth grows exponentially, its control decentralizes and organized coercion becomes less possible. This will eventually lead to the end of states (anarchy), and make large-scale ownership of property less likely as possible spheres of control diminish.

The theory might narrowly be described as determinist but is in no way fatalist: while the chief characteristic of progress throughout observed history has been the expansion of individual freedom in proportion to the advance of wealth, the trend is not necessarily inevitable. The trend could, for example, be slowed down by wealth destruction carried out by states and individuals, or set back severely by massive disasters such as nuclear war or worldwide plague. Critics might cite this as a case against the theory, although a genuine refutation would have to demonstrate a large advance in global wealth that results in no net gain in, or even a net loss in, total individual freedom.

Control Decay Theory is based on the belief that no matter what men espouse or believe politically, their actions tend to be those that are efficient as a means to supporting human life and therefore, by definition, increase wealth. Put simply, more total wealth in the world = less state power per individual.