I had a lot to do, much of it outside my ability, much of it costly, and I had a few grand I could put on my personal credit card and that was it. The idea for Praxis wasn’t fundable yet, and I didn’t even know what the letters “VC” meant anyway, let alone how to go raise. But I didn’t need any of that because I had something far more valuable. I had dozens of accounts with positive balances of social capital, and it was time to cash them in.
Tag: control
Being Content with Being Bad
I don’t want to rape and murder, not because it is wrong, but because I have empathy for others and it would destroy my life for many reasons. I think societies should stop people from raping and murdering because it is in people’s self-interest to do so.
Chafing Against the Law
This singular pursuit has been my solitary area of participation in the political process. I’ve given Libertas my hard earned money in the past because of the success I have seen from their efforts. Unfortunately, the parasites and predators that are government actors have continued to push back against these successes, unsurprisingly.
Socialism Is Dead; Participatory Fascism Has Triumphed
Unlike full-fledged socialism, which leads to totalitarian rule, mass poverty and economic decay, participatory fascism not only placates people’s wish to participate in the formal process of government decision-making but also permits private entrepreneurs enough room for maneuver that they can in some cases get rich; also enough that they can keep national output at a tolerably high level and in some cases even generate positive economic growth.
Selfish Reasons for Civilized Behavior
The nihilist in me isn’t too interested in moralizing to my children about right and wrong. Yes, I believe in ethics and morality, but no, I do not believe that we are obligated to anyone but ourselves to be good and moral people. If we aren’t obligated to anyone but ourselves, then any reason why find to be good and moral must necessarily be selfish. Right? I think so. And after polling some friends on what they considered “civilized behavior,” here are some actions and the selfish reasons to perform them.
On Property and Aggression
Rights are not metaphysical entities. No pathologist finds them during an autopsy. In a sense, they are conventions, but by that, I do not mean they are arbitrary. They are conventions much in the same way that David Hume saw the virtue of justice, which he equated with respect for property.
The 4 Keys to Learning Anything
OK, so we all want to learn skills — new languages, programming skills, physical skills, history, math, writing, games, so much more. But these four problems stand in our way. Let’s take them on. We’re going to discover four keys to overcoming these four problems so that we can tackle anything we want to learn.
Anything But Original Appropriation is Nonsensical
Ultimately, whatever property conventions people voluntary decide to respect amongst each other is or should be acceptable for the voluntaryist. However, until there is a meeting of the minds between individuals concerning property conventions, how should conflicts over property claims be judged? In my opinion, they should be judged on the basis of original appropriation, and anything else is nonsensical.
To Die in a Shootout with The State
Giving your car keys to a car-jacker in order to avoid getting a bullet through your brain does not equate to condoning and approving of car-jacking. Likewise, going along with various commands and/or demands of a heavily armed ruling class out of self-preservation does not equate to approving of or advocating such state aggression.
Snooping Archators
Privacy-invading technology has the potential to be annoying but is only dangerous because you– or someone– allows aggressive, thieving gangs to use the collected data to molest and control you.