Hat tip to Bruce Schneier for word of a new report from the International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance: “The Emergence of a Global Infrastructure for Mass Registration and Surveillance.”
This is chilling stuff. People who understand the value of liberty need to work harder than ever to spread that understanding. Time may be running out.
Some things you just can’t lampoon.
School Mistakes Huge Burrito for a Weapon
What’s wrong with you people???
With apologies to the late Douglas Adams and fans, the title of this post came naturally from the idea it is about.
Role-playing is not just an excuse to get together with your friends and cover a table with dice, miniatures, papers and pizza boxes. It is also a technique for conflict mediation and reaching common ground.
What if one were to convene a sort of discussion group of people role-playing some of the greatest radical minds and leaders of all time, across all eternity? Would new ground be broken? Would the proceedings make for an interesting book?
Some potential panel nominations:
Panel moderator:
or Heinlein ?
I’d like to briefly extend upon what I wrote a few posts ago about monetary interest. My reconciliation of the position against monetary interest of many early individualist anarchists with modern market anarchism is, I believe, supported very well by this quote from Tucker’s “The Abolition of Interest”
“No Anarchist disputes that it is perfectly legitimate […] to borrow either of the cook or of the bank upon such terms as may be agreed upon in a free market. The complaint of Anarchism is that the market is not free, and that the transactions effected therein are necessarily tainted with injustice.”
So, we see here a condemnation of monetary interest that is not based on the practice itself, but on its role within State-capitalism and not precluding the practice within a genuine free market — precisely as I elaborated on earlier in an entirely Rothbardian manner.
I don’t often blog about stuff from the Heartland Institute. It’s not that their heart isn’t in the right place — it’s just that their chosen path follows a course closer to the mainstream than I prefer. Stiil, let’s give credit where credit is due. In “What Hunger Insurance Could Teach Us about Health Insurance”, Joseph L. Bast observes and explains why the “health insurance” model is simply a messed up way to handle health care.
So long as a State exists, the “answer” for health care policy is strict Seperation of Health Care and State, akin to Seperation of Church and State.
Auto Insurance Quotes free quotes
Let’s postulate two sorts of robbery scenarios.
In one, a lone robber points a gun at you and takes your cash. All libertarians would recognize this as a micro-example of any kind of government at work, resembling most closely State Socialism.
In the second, depicting State Capitalism, one robber (the literal apparatus of government) keeps you covered with a pistol while the second (representing State-allied corporations) just holds the bag that you have to drop your wristwatch, wallet and car keys in. To say that your interaction with the bagman was a “voluntary transaction” is an absurdity. Such nonsense should be condemned by all libertarians. Both gunman and bagman together are the true State.
Even more important now than when it was originally published in 1977:
“Do You Hate the State?” by Murray N. Rothbard
Also don’t miss the extended commentary from Wally Conger on Rothbard’s essay above.
The occasion of a road trip gave Logan Brandt the opportunity to think about and extend upon the Rational Review editorial board’s political program. I’m proud to have my name listed as the third signatory to that doc.
Kudos to the late Samuel Edward Konkin the III, author of The New Libertarian Manifesto and also to Kevin Carson of Mutualist.org for shaping a lot of (still ongoing) thinking on my part about what could perhaps be described as “dual-power strategies” to build the seeds of the new society within the shell of the old. Although I can’t speak for any of the others directly, I know I wasn’t the only person on the board with those influences.
There are those who choose to dispute whether modern market anarchism is the successor to the 19th century individualist anarchists. One of the things they often point to is the denunciations of monetary interest that were common among the individualist anarchists of the 19th century. It seems to me that criticism misunderstands market anarchism. Here’s how…
The role of many things can be good, bad or innocuous depending on context. For example, the role of a gun used in a holdup is not the same as the role of a gun carried in a ladies purse for defense. The object is the same, but role plays a huge part in how nervous one ought to be about it.
The way I see it, monetary interest takes on negative aspects within the context of a state monetary monopoly/oligopoly. The 19th century individualist anarchist critiques of monetary interest are then applicable. That’s not the same thing, though, as monetary interest per se. I think perhaps more ought to be said about this by market anarchists, both for sake of clarifying the matter to others and just in terms of refining the state of market anarchist thought. This view to me seems a self-evident aspect of market anarchism — it’s just not often talked about. In doing so, we could perhaps draw more from those 19th century individualists.
Clearly, if two people voluntarily agree to and carry out a transaction involving only what is rightfully theirs, they both benefit. This is simple, genuine free trade and hardly controversial.
If the milieu that transaction is carried out in, by reason of state intervention distorting the market, favors one party to the transaction (such as a state-privileged banking cartel) over the other party, then something other than free trade is going on. In other words, it’s not a completely voluntary transaction, unlike the above.
At that point, some criticism becomes valid — because what would otherwise be innocuous or beneficial within the context of a completely voluntary transaction (debt interest) becomes a symptom (oppressive debt interest) of a larger problem (a banking industry cartelized by state granted privilege).
To me, this distinction represents a refinement of 19th century individualist anarchism that yet ought to be an obvious point to anyone who has studied modern market anarchist thinkers like Rothbard.
I strive not to take myself to seriously. Honestly.
I have to admit, though, to being both bemused and oddly flattered to receive the sort of academic spam shown below. It’s a cut above the usual mortgage offers, viagra ads and more traditional Nigerian 419 scams. Guess I’m steppin’ on up in the world, doncha know… [grin]
Apparently, I come off like some sort of intellectual — at least, to con artists of the English-as-a-second-language variety. Actually, I’d be willing to bet that they probably use some sort of spidering/data-mining technique that flags emails found on sites with keywords they associate with their target demographic.
Please, people, don’t fall for this sort of crap. This stuff is so phony.
Oh and, for the record, I do not and have never claimed to have a doctorate.
Dear Dr. Spangler,
On behalf of the organizing committee, I would like to extend a cordial invitation for you to attend one of the upcoming IPSI BgD multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary conferences.
The first one will take place in Sveti Stefan, Montenegro:
IPSI-2005 MONTENEGRO
Hotel Sveti Stefan (arrival: 1 October 05 / departure: 8 October 05)
Deadlines: 1 May 05 (abstract) / 1 July 05 (full paper)The second one will take place in Venice, Italy:
IPSI-2005 VENICE
Hotel Luna Baglioni (arrival: 9 November 05 / departure: 14 November 05)
Deadlines: 1 June 05 (abstract) / 1 August 05 (full paper)The third one will take place on the Bled lake, Slovenia:
IPSI-2005 SLOVENIA
Hotel Toplice (arrival: 8 December 05 / departure: 11 December 05)
Deadlines: 1 July 05 (abstract) & 1 September 05 (full paper)All IPSI BgD conferences are non-profit. They bring together the elite of the world science; so far, we have had seven Nobel Laureates speaking at the opening ceremonies. The conferences always take place in some of the most attractive places of the world. All those who come to IPSI conferences once, always love to come back (because of the unique professional quality and the extremely creative atmosphere); lists of past participants are on the web, as well as details of future conferences.
These conferences are in line with the newest recommendations of the US National Science Foundation and of the EU research sponsoring agencies, to stress multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research (M+I+T++ research). The speakers and activities at the conferences truly support this type of scientific interaction.
One of the main topics of this conference is “E-education and E-business with Special Emphasis on Semantic Web and Web Datamining”
Other topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
* Internet
* Computer Science and Engineering
* Mobile Communications/Computing for Science and Business
* Management and Business Administration
* Education
* e-Medicine
* e-Oriented Bio Engineering/Science and Molecular Engineering/Science
* Environmental Protection
* e-Economy
* e-Law
* Technology Based Art and Art to Inspire Technology Developments
* Internet PsychologyIf you would like more information on either conference, please reply to this e-mail message.
If you plan to submit an abstract and paper, please let us know immediately for planning purposes. Note that you can submit your paper also to the IPSI Transactions journal.
Sincerely Yours,
Prof. V. Milutinovic, Chairman,
IPSI BgD Conferences* * * CONTROLLING OUR E-MAILS TO YOU * * *
If you would like to continue to be informed about future IPSI BgD conferences, please reply to this e-mail message with a subject line of SUBSCRIBE.
If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please reply to this e-mail message with a subject line of REMOVE.
