The Problem of Political Authority - Review
If I had the power to persuade non-libertarians to read one book right now I’d choose for it to be The Problem of Political Authority by Michael Huemer.…
PSYOP versus the mutual benefit of trade
It is false that voluntary exchange always benefits both parties in the ex ante sense. At least some voluntary exchanges are precipitated by factors not under conscious control, and thus not sensitive to expectation of benefit in the usually understood sense.…
Guns, homicide, and the inadequacy of prohibitionist “common sense”
Easy access to a firearm may be the dispositive factor that leads the marginal killer to commit a crime , increasing the homicide rate. But firearms are also used defensively, and in these ways guns decrease the homicide rate.…
We Can Do Better Than a Right to Healthcare
I hope to show here that it's not a right to healthcare that you really want, but something much more valuable.…
Virtual Rothbardianism
I identify as an anarcho-capitalist and a moral nihilist. Here I'll sketch how these pieces fit together for me.…
NAPI. Non-Aggression Principle Insufficiency
Followers of Rothbard invoke the non-aggression principle (NAP) as the standard against which the permissibility of any action is to be judged. But the NAP is insufficient for this use. I call this idea non-aggression principle insufficiency. NAPI for short.…
The Weak Argument Against Taxation
There should be a strong presumption against threatening people with violence — Unless those people are threatening others, or violating their property rights (e.g. Robbers, murderers, rapists).…
De-escalating The Zwarte Piet Conflict
We have two groups with opposing views about the appropriateness of this tradition. The stakes of the conflict are raised by the poisonous involvement of the state.…
Against the presumption of open borders. Border policy agnosticism.
Libertarians cannot assume that a state-controlled open border policy is automatically a more libertarian option than the state restrictively policing the border.…
Gun Governance without Government
Private ‘Rights Enforcement Agencies’ allow a granular approach, better for finding the proper balance between the harms and benefits of gun ownership.…
002: Max Borders – The Social Singularity and Distributed Income Support Cooperatives (DISCs)
I talked with Max Borders about his new book, The Social Singularity. We also touch on social technologies, incentive systems and scarcity, the importance of culture, and Distributed Income Support Cooperatives (DISCs).…
001: Justin Goro – Programmable scarcity, the oracle problem, and Pythia.
Justin Goro is a developer building tools on the Ethereum network.…
Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. Neither does gold.
Bitcoin doesn’t have intrinsic or inherent value. This isn’t as serious a handicap as it might seem, because nothing has intrinsic value. Not government notes, not gold, not even grain, or salt.…
The Motte and Bailey of NAP Libertarianism
The problem has to do with overselling libertarianism with attractive anti-violence/anti-aggression catchphrases.…
'Vaccines are safe' - An Underdetermined Claim
Though not all vaccines contain aluminum, compelling evidence of risk associated with this ingredient undermines the claim that vaccines are safe.…
Human Needs Don't Exist
Imagining categorical needs – divorced from individual values and goals – dismisses human difference, subjectivity, intentionality and reason.…
Against The Presumption of Open Borders. The libertarian argument from imperfect restitution.
Is an open border policy inherently more libertarian than a restrictive or exclusionary policy? I believe the answer is no.…
For the arts – Against compulsion. Dear Patreon.
Arts funding depends on taxation. Taxation depends on maintaining credible threats of violence against peaceful people who would otherwise not comply.…
Responses to Slate Star Codex's Machinery of Freedom review
Scott Alexander’s 2015 review of David Friedman’s Machinery of Freedom includes a few interesting objections. Here I answer them as best as I can.…
Exploitation Theory Was Obsoleted Long Ago
Marxist accounts of the injustice of capitalism can sound plausible. But there's a foundational mistake in Marx’s exploitation theory.…