contributing to the Linux kernel

[Bailey, Michael L [NTK]]

Messieurs Goebel and Densmore disputed thusly

>> Huh? I assume by official, you're talking about Linus' kernel and not
the >>NSA's. Anybody _can_  contribute to Linus' kernel. There aren't
>>regulations in place to prevent that

>Yes. Ok, let's see you upload a patch to the linux archives. What you
can't >it has to be approved by Linus or one of his people? 

Isn't it true that I could take the kernel, add my code (which would
really mess it up) without anyone's approval, and distribute it or
whatever providing I met the provisions of the GPL?  But I couldn't
represent it as Linus's kernel in that case. 
Interesting discussion, though.  
Distinction between custom and authority: what we really need is
cultural customs promoting quality.  What we get when we rely on
government, whose difference from private enterprise is its purported
monopoly on the use of force, is the application of force to what can't
be forced: innovation, caring, responsibility.  These things bubble up
despite government.
State power is great at applying the stick (if you want to kill a lot of
people, government's your best bet) but tends to apply the carrot
unfairly due to the fact that the carrot's stolen in the first place,
and crowds of interested parties who all have to be paid stand between
it and the intended recipients. Hard-core libertarian thinking would
even leave the use of force up to private parties (thesis being that
rather than keeping violence down, restricting its use to the government
actually increases it.)
I prefer to try to build a cultural custom of respect for the government
we have - as the adage goes, it's the one I deserve - without expecting
it to be reasonable by my standards.  It has its own inner logic, and
it's bigger than I am.
Now I'm going to back to my revision of the kernel...