If I were a guest on a podcast or an interview broadcast, when asked about my major influences, I would stick close to the names repeated by voluntaryists — Spooner, Bastiat, Jefferson, Mencken, Mises, Hazlitt, Rothbard, Higgs, and Woods. But in this more expansive context, I can stretch out to discuss the influences who made me a voluntaryist before I knew I was one, before I knew to read the internal literature of the voluntaryist, libertarian, individualist mainstream. Three such influences are Alan Turing, Dan Carlin, and Ruth Rendell.
Tag: humanity
Will Virtual Worlds Destroy Humanity?
People who become consumed with virtual worlds do so because they find there the hormonal rewards that are lacking elsewhere. I’ve heard it said by such a person that he’s a hero and champion in his video game, but outside his life is complete shit. How does that happen?
Guess What, Some People are Pricks
What humanity needs if we are to become less bigoted overall is to call a prick a prick, and deal with pricks as individuals.
Threatening People with Fines and Jail
A question on Quora: “Why are so many American conservatives against the systems that are so effective in countries such as Finland and Denmark?”
One Way to Tick People Off…
Achieve quickly what they labored long and hard for. This is guaranteed to enrage some set of people. Even if your success is not overnight, if it appears you achieved it quickly, or with fewer hoops than most in your field, they will not like it.
Indifferent to Human Suffering
The lack of compassion and empathy for the millions of people who have been and are being murdered, tortured, brutalized, kidnapped, enslaved, and extorted by the state and its enforcers is truly staggering.
Why I (Still) Blog
The liberty-lover family is facing tough times. We will make it through; we always have throughout history. But the near future will probably be hard and not all of us will make it to the better times beyond that.
How Not to Change the World
Don’t run for class president. Don’t go to HOA meetings. Don’t join a committee. Don’t get involved in political campaigns. All of these activities are about reform. Get into the institution, play by its rules, and try to make it behave differently than it wants to. Forget this approach. It sucks. Here are four reasons why.
Words Poorly Used #93 — Legal/Moral
The term “legal” is most often miscarried when it has not been put in the light of a moral origin. This relationship is the first puzzle of humanity.
Dumb, Authoritarian Smart People
Smart people and those who imagine themselves to be smart tend to be authoritarian. That’s because they believe they know what’s best for you.