What a Libertarian Is and Is Not What a Libertarian Is - and Is Notby Sam Wells A libertarian is a person - any person - who consistently advocates individual freedom and consistently opposes the initiation of the use of coercion by anyone upon the person or property of anyone else for any reason. (Coercion is here defined as any action taken by a human being against the will or without the permission of another human being with respect to his or her body or property. This includes murder, rape, kidnaping, assault, trespassing, burglary, robbery, arson and fraud.) Some libertarians (such as the late Robert LeFevre) not only oppose all forms of initiatory coercion, but also the use of retaliatory coercion (revenge or criminal justice).
Game Theory First published Sat Jan 25, 1997; substantive revision Wed May 5, 2010 Game theory is the study of the ways in which strategic interactions among economic agents produce outcomes with respect to the preferences (or utilities) of those agents, where the outcomes in question might have been intended by none of the agents. The meaning of this statement will not be clear to the non-expert until each of the italicized words and phrases has been explained and featured in some examples. 1. The mathematical theory of games was invented by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern (1944). Despite the fact that game theory has been rendered mathematically and logically systematic only since 1944, game-theoretic insights can be found among commentators going back to ancient times. Long before game theory had come along to show analysts how to think about this sort of problem systematically, it had occurred to some actual military leaders and influenced their strategies. 2. 2.1 Utility
The Praxeology and Ethics of Traffic Lights - Justin T.P. Quinn It's over. There can be no hope for the state now. Its time has finally come to an end. If you think this is irrationally optimistic, click here and watch the video. How often do you hear the minarchist say, "Well, I don't like government, but we at least need things like traffic laws. Martin Cassini, a photographer and advocate for road deregulation, has produced a marvelous series of videos documenting the results of the Cabstand Junction Trial that started in September of 2009 in North Somerset, in Great Britain. Without traffic lights regulating intersections, congestion has disappeared and accidents are virtually nonexistent. This may come as a shock to those who believe in the state, but not to Austrians. In order for any rational person to act, one must accept the principle of first user. Any attempt to argue the contrary would bring the arguer into immediate self-contradiction. It is a clear-cut case of what is known in Austrolibertarian circles as spontaneous order.
Thirty-Thousand.org - Return the House of Representatives to the People (Home Page) Sweden Getting World's First Pirate-Friendly ISP The new pirate political party in Sweden, which takes a stern anti-copyright stance, and helps out torrent-sharer Pirate Bay, now plans to launch the world's first "pirate ISP." It'll be anonymized, safe, and feed funds to the party itself. The machinations of Sweden-based Pirate Bay have been fascinating to watch unfold--every step seems to challenge laws and accepted norms. Like the latest development, where the Piratpartiet (Sweden's Pirate Bay-inspired copyright-fighting political party) plans to offer the world's very first pirate ISP. The Piratepartiet has been careful to distance itself from the "operational" end of the famous file-sharing site Pirate Bay, which has been embroiled in one legal battle after another as different agencies attempt to shutter its torrent-sharing activities. But the party recently began to supply bandwidth to keep Pirate Bay alive--a relatively risk-free move that also chimes well with the party's stance on copyright reform.
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Stuart McMillen - cartoon Recombinant Records This webpage originally contained a comic adaptation of part of the foreword to Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death. This comic was respectfully removed in March 2012 due to the wishes of the copyright holders of the text. Do yourself a favour and read Neil Postman's words in full. Other links which may be of interest to readers who were pointed here: Back to post / website. Statism: An Unfalsifiable Religion George Bush and his supporters like to point to the absence of major terrorist attacks since 9-11 as a vindication: “His policies kept us safe.” Lisa Simpson once parodied such arguments: “By your logic, I could say this rock keeps tigers away.” Homer: “Oh, how does it work.” Lisa: “It doesn’t work. It’s just a stupid rock… But I don’t see any tigers around, do you?” And even if there were another major terrorist attack on the scale of 9-11, they wouldn’t take it as falsifying their position. Libertarians frequently argue that government entities are recompensed for failure, not by going out of business, but by having their budgets increased. As Ivan Illich put it, bureaucracies solve problems by escalation. By the same token, statists will make any superficially plausible-sounding argument to justify our need for the state, without regard for how it contradicts their other arguments.
SacredCow Steaks SacredCow Steaks Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Such was one of the great calls to arms, a true raison d’être, of so many revolutionaries during the 18th century. Yet we now live in a vastly different world. And yet ‘Happiness’ simply hasn’t arrived for ‘us’ (the westerners). I believe that the video in the post below articulates this view quite nicely. "The research is clear. Finally I’d like to mention one of the models of ‘happiness’ that comes from the Americas. My main source of information on this practice (and it is a practice, not an abstract concept, it is built on Indigenous experience) comes from this independent article: "buen vivir is a solid principle which means life in harmony and equilibrium between men and women, between different communities and, above all, between human beings and the natural environment of which they are part." For thousands of years these native peoples have carried out their philosophy of ‘live well’.
Everything you ever wanted to know about anarchism This classic statement of anarchism was written by a diverse group of anarchists in Cardiff around 1980 and it is an interesting historical record of the optimism of mainstream anarchist thought at that time. There is probably more rubbish talked about anarchism than any other political idea. Actually, it has nothing to do with a belief in chaos, death and destruction. Anarchists do not normally carry bombs, nor do they ascribe any virtue to beating up old ladies. It is no accident that the sinister image of the mad anarchist is so accepted. The alleged necessity of authority is so firmly planted in the average mind that anarchy, which means simply 'no government' is almost unthinkable to most people. Yet there are a limitless range of possible societies without the State. Various sorts of anarchists have differing ideas on exactly how society ought to be organised. Very few people seem to understand anarchism, even though it is a very simple, straightforward idea. Large Scale Campaigns