This episode features a lecture by libertarian theorist and patent attorney Stephan Kinsella from 2017. This talk sets out the framework for how to view property rights in general and then finally turns to intellectual property. The main talk lasted for about the first 30 minutes; the final hour is questions and answers.
Category: Voluntaryist Voices
Walter Williams: American Contempt for Liberty (56m)
This episode features a discussion with economics professor Walter Williams from 2015. Throughout history, personal liberty, free markets, and peaceable, voluntary exchanges have been roundly denounced by tyrants and often greeted with suspicion by the general public. Unfortunately, argues Dr. Williams, Americans have increasingly accepted the tyrannical ideas of reduced private property rights and reduced rights to profits, and have become enamored with restrictions on personal liberty and control by government.
Kirby Ferguson: Embrace the Remix (10m)
This episode features a talk by writer and filmmaker Kirby Ferguson from 2013. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform.
Peter Hill: The Not So Wild, Wild West, Property Rights on the Frontier (48m)
This episode features a lecture by economics professor emeritus Peter J. Hill from 2016. Hill looks at the development of property rights across the American West in the 19th century.
Walter Block: Defending the Speculator (9m)
This episode features an audio essay written by economics professor and Austro-libertarian Walter Block from 1976, and which comprises Chapter 22 of Defending the Undefendable.
Andrew Napolitano: Nation of Sheep (48m)
This episode features a talk by by former Federal judge and libertarian Andrew Napolitano from 2008. He discusses how the federal government has circumvented the Constitution and is systematically dismantling the rights and freedoms that are the foundation of American democracy. He challenges Americans to recognize that they are being led down a very dangerous path and that the cost of following without challenge is the loss of the basic freedoms that facilitate our pursuit of happiness and that define us as a nation. He asks the simple question, which are you, a sheep or a wolf? Do you blindly follow behind where you are led, or do you challenge the government at every pass, forcing it to make decisions that will protect our freedoms?
Sandra Dodd: Unexpected Benefits of Unschooling (19m)
This episode features an audio essay written by long-time unschooling mom and guru Sandra Dodd in 2008, and which comprises Chapter 22 of Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting, edited by Skyler J. Collins and published in 2012.
Milton Friedman: There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (45m)
his episode features a talk by economist and Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman from 1993. From the grand opening of the Cato Institutes’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1993, Friedman gives a talk about popular political aphorisms, one of his favorites being the one he helped popularize in the title of his 1975 book, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Richard Ryan: Is Human Autonomy a Western Ideology or a Basic Need? (1h18m)
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.
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.