Re: Alchemy.
The only sort of prosecution that works on oligarchs is the sort that comes with a comfy neck-brace and rapidly descending blade.
I don't think I'm quite ready for the social upheaval that arrives alongside such things, but the oligarchs should make themselves aware of the existence of inflection points, because these also apply to societies as a whole, when people start becoming too rich, whether individuals desire them or not.
I was too young when I read Asimov's Foundation books to fully grasp what "psychohistory" was about, but the statistical observation of societies as a whole does tend to lead us to some foregone conclusions.
