Hi Eileen Ormsby, great article in The Age! Think we saw your pal Monica here a while ago. :)Congratulations for being Australian and telling it how it is.--On topic:I'm inclined to disagree Lim, I think a single unified homogenous market is likely to come under direct attack at some indiscernible point in the future. A position of strength can simultaneously also be a single point of weakness, especially when you're trying to scale up rapidly and keep on top of everything at once.The strengths of the black market have historically been:- Diversity- Rapid Innovation- Early technology adoption- Tax free (!)Its weaknesses have historically been a lack of internal regulation due to the difficulties of enforcing contracts. Before now, most black market contracts were enforced by coercive means. SR has changed that, permanently.Reputation Systems, Web of Trust, Escrow with (potentially) anonymous digital cash. Advanced cryptography changes that lack of internal black market regulation. The majority of people still don't grasp the implications of that, even on the Silk Road, it's just too big a change and there is actually nothing to compare it to in history that I can think of.But.. we should not throw away the other leverage points that black markets have, just because we have a shiny new toy.Right now SR is the mothership more or less. Which is great, because it has shown what can be done. In that sense it is mission accomplished from an agorist point of view.I think however, that there is a great need for decentralization and market competition on the darknet. A variety of markets will specialize in certain product, tweak with different policies, even entirely different conceptions of economy, different technologies e.g. other cryptocurrencies, interception tags, elliptic curve cryptography, comms support systems like kmfkewn's SE project, Cables, even different Anonymity networks other than Tor and so on. I don't think there is a one size fits all market that will suit everybody. Perhaps there is now for the most part, but what about when the market is 10, 100, 1000 times larger? Because I don't think that is unrealistic. Growth has been exponential so far and I think there is a vast untapped reservoir of potential marketshare still to come, even for decades to come as a technology adept generation grows up. While I would expect SR to remain dominant with first mover advantage, this is unlikely be a permanent position. Diversity is good. We can learn from each others successes and mistakes.What I want to see, which is quite independent (complementary even) of DPR's plans for ownership control, is a Darknet Confederation.This Confederation essentially starts proper with SR. Competition does not have to be antagonistic, an alliance of business interests can be supportive on one level, and competitive on another. I say we play against each other, but look after our own. Besides, there is much specialization that has yet to occur, different businesses shall find different niches. To be honest, I think there is more than enough market share for all in any case, it's going to a very long time before there's a recession on the darknet due to economic factors. Finally, we are capitalists. Capitalist are by default individualists, have strong opinions, fierce loyalties, and fight like cats and dogs. We thrive on new things, new frontiers, and most of all we have a severe allergic reaction to authority of any sort. Diversification is merely the natural outcome of such a querulous tribe. Contented souls rarely change the world after all.So, while you are here, get networking with your fellow SRerians, cos we got a helluva lot of work to be doing, we are tasked with building the superstructure of the Black Market's Industrial Revolution. Your grandchildren will positively weep at the thought of having a fraction of the opportunities which are open to you right now.