On the one hand, you believe it’s not from the benevolence of the butcher that we get our meat, but by his regard to his self-interest in a market context. On the other hand, you believe that children have no regard for their self-interest and do not respond to market incentives so must be forced and directed to do what’s good for them and by extension society.
Tag: order
Intrinsic Motivation vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Maybe this isn’t a problem for you. Maybe you are perfectly willing to reward your child for good behavior until they move out, but for the rest of us, we want our children to want to be kind, to want to share, to want to help out around the house, to want to learn.
A Poor Way to Measure an Economy
After every disaster, we are told that there will be economic benefits due to the cleanup efforts. It’s obvious that many people will be working to rebuild, and will collect salaries, and will spend on all sorts of things. No doubt, there will be a blip in the local “domestic product.” But if that’s the entire story, why wait for a disaster? Why not take a wrecking ball to your own city, in order to spur demand and production?
The Liberal Spirit and Its Opposite, Alt-Rightism
Maybe a few self-described libertarians cling to the idea that property is essentially about exclusion, but they are fated to hit a wall: liberalism is a spirit as well as a set of ideas, and it cannot be turned against itself. It fosters human solidarity, not separation. Libertarianism, like its precursor, is an answer to the question: under what conditions do reasoning social animals best flourish? In answering that question the way it has, liberalism offers no home to sowers of division.
The Problem with Ancap Thought Experiments
Yes, you can make a point with using an example of a small number of people interacting in an isolated system, but you could just as easily create a thought experiment starting from our current situation that people might find easier to follow. Such a thought experiment might look something like this.
Peaceful Anarchism 020 – Suffering is the Greatest Teacher (7m)
Peaceful Anarchism 020, “Many of us tend to shy away from and avoid suffering, hardship, and pain. It is only natural since our bodies are constructed to desire pleasure and shun discomfort. It is our biological imperative. Nevertheless, sometimes it becomes necessary to override our limbic system base desires in order to attain a nobler goal.”
The Learner Precedes the Teacher
The learner comes first. Their desire to learn a fact or method or subject is – must be – the first mover in order for genuine education to occur. If that desire prompts them to seek formal or informal teachers, the teaching is valuable. If teaching is imposed on unwilling learners, it’s the opposite of valuable. It does violence to education.
What’s Wrong With Free Money?
One of the scams pushed by the soulless parasites is the notion of “universal basic income” or “UBI”: the idea that, just as a result of existing, everyone is magically entitled to a certain amount of prosperity, income and wealth. Unfortunately, this political Tooth Fairy approach seems to work well on the economically ignorant, which includes most people. After all, it sounds so nice—so caring and generous. What could possibly be destructive or malicious about giving everyone free stuff?
Hurricane Harvey: About That Wall…
It may be weeks before the storms end, the waters recede, and basic utilities are restored. But this, too, shall pass — and then begins the rebuilding. Who’s going to do that rebuilding?
Nice Monsters
Most serial killers are probably very nice. It’s how they gain the trust of their intended victims; getting them to let their guard down. If they weren’t nice, they would find it hard to get close enough to kill their victims up close and personal. But if you are being nice in order to facilitate violating people, you aren’t good. No matter how many people like you for your niceness.