This episode features a lecture by professor and clinical psychologist Richard M. Ryan from 2016. Dr. Ryan examines human autonomy as it relates to psychological, mental, and emotional health in children and adults.
Author: Skyler J. Collins (Editor)
Founder and editor of Everything-Voluntary.com and UnschoolingDads.com, Skyler is a husband and unschooling father of three beautiful children. His writings include the column series “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” and “One Improved Unit,” and blog series “Two Cents“. Skyler also wrote the books No Hitting! and Toward a Free Society, and edited the books Everything Voluntary and Unschooling Dads. You can hear Skyler chatting away on his podcasts, Everything Voluntary and Thinking & Doing.
Election Results, Government Failures, Antinatalism, & Parasitism (29m) – Episode 415
Episode 415 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: the 2020 United States election results (thus far), local to national; why government failure is commonplace, should always be pointed out, and usually leads to government taking more power and resources from its constituents; the times, places, and circumstances in which antinatalism makes a lot of sense; how government is like a more or less clever and effective parasite on the body politic; and more.
Quitting Something, Nurturing Curiosity, Work Life, & Changing People (22m) – Episode 037
Episode 037 looks at the advice to “never give up” on something that is no longer serving you (see also “sunk cost fallacy”); being kind to those, adults and children, who are curious about the world, even when you’re surprised by their ignorance; the importance of focusing on more areas of your life outside of work; and why and possibly how you can change the people in your life that are bringing you down.
The Price of Panic over COVID-19 (23m) – Episode 414
Episode 414 has Skyler giving his commentary on a new website he discovered called “The Price of Panic”. From their introduction: “The negative effects of lockdown are too often dismissed as small sacrifices, necessary to keep a highly deadly disease from spreading. These sacrifices are, in fact, neither necessary nor small, and the disease is only a threat to a minority of the population that can be protected without lockdowns. Sometimes, when major harms become hard to ignore, they are lamented as further damage caused by Covid, even though it is our panic-driven measures that are to blame. This is an effort to bring focus to the magnitude of suffering taking place around us because of lockdowns.”
Price Inflation, Halloween, Old Politicians, Burning Businesses, & Law Enforcement (30m) – Episode 413
Episode 413 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics from r/blackpeopletwitter and r/whitepeopletwitter: why stuff costs so much more now than they did in 1965; whether we should talk about Halloween parties or put all our focus on COVID-19; who cares how old modern politicians are when the problem is their power; this asshole who doesn’t care when businesses are looted and burned so long as it’s done in the name of racial justice; when cops say they don’t make the laws, just enforce them, but also say they won’t enforce social distancing and gun control; and the problem of law enforcement that has nothing to do with national elections.
Donald Boudreaux: Law and Legislation (1h9m)
This episode features an interview of economics professor Donald Boudreaux from 2006 by Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk. Drawing on volume one of Friedrich Hayek’s classic, Law, Legislation and Liberty, Boudreaux talks about the distinction between law and legislation, the appropriate role of judges, and how the fulfillment of our expectations allows us to pursue our goals and dreams.
What We Train For & Poor Expectations (20m) – Episode 036
Episode 036 looks at two Stoic topics: the first from Epictetus who wrote, “But what is philosophy? Doesn’t it simply mean preparing ourselves for what may come? Don’t you understand that really amounts to saying that if I would so prepare myself to endure, then let anything happen that will? Otherwise, it would be like the boxer exiting the ring because he took some punches. Actually, you can leave the boxing ring without consequence, but what advantage would come from abandoning the pursuit of wisdom? So, what should each of us say to every trial we face? This is what I’ve trained for, for this my discipline!”; and the second from r/Stoicism, a post by Throwawaymykey9000 who started off with, “Whenever you find yourself upset, pay close attention to what false appearance/expectation you had that led to the discomfort. This is how you grow as a Stoic.”
Economics, Rich and Poor, the Truth, & Human Anarchy (30m) – Episode 412
Episode 412 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following questions from Quora: “Is economics the study of how a society is?”; “Are the rich more important than the poor?”; “Why is the truth so important?”; and “Is anarchy the true state of humanity?”
Dennis P. Returns, Libertarian Persuasion, & Free State New Hampshire (1h11m) – Episode 411
Episode 411 welcomes back Dennis Pratt to chat with Skyler on the following topics: the shutdown of Rodger Paxton’s Pax Libertas Productions; his multi-year career writing thoughtful answers to libertarian questions on Quora; New Hampshire’s Free State Project; life and politics in NH; how the locals are responding to the influx of libertarians to NH; what taxes are levied in NH; his involvement in building community centers for NH residents; why all economic regulations are a type of hidden tax; libertarianism as a paradigm shift; respecting cultural diversity among libertarians; slavery reparations as federal land divestments; why everyone is owed reparations by government for its many crimes; the dangers of cultivating and maintaining victimhood mentality; Porcfest, freedom festival; Joe Biden on the minimum wage; and more.
Grand Juries, John Oliver’s Class, Edward Snowden’s Residency, New Organ, & COVID-19 (22m) – Episode 410
Episode 410 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from ABC News, “Breonna Taylor grand jury members say they were not presented with homicide charges”; from NewsTimes.com, “John Oliver donates to two charities after Danbury sewer plant renaming” (Episode 360); from Reuters, “Russia gives whistleblower Edward Snowden permanent residency rights”; from LiveScience.com, “Scientists discover new organ in the throat”; and from Newsweek, “Over 27 Million People Have Recovered From COVID-19 Globally”.