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6261  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 04:14:23 AM

Not this again. It's like you saying sea levels don't rise when heat is absorbed by the ocean because I only asserted it, rather than write a 1,000 page introduction to physics.

I know enough physics to know that's true. I know enough politics to know your agenda behind stating it and where to start looking for the flaws.

However, if you enter a discussion with someone and they refute your claim, you need to back it up. If you're not willing to do so and you just dismiss the person, you should just admit you're here to assert, not discuss and then kindly leave.
6262  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 04:11:40 AM
Thus my earlier criticism still stands that these people are wrong in choosing not to think.

What makes you think that we haven't examined these concepts down to first principles? Granted, some might not have, but I know I have, and found it to be a logically consistent and viable philosophy.

I believe that anything logically consistent cannot possibly be moral.

I believe that there can be no absolute truths


(Yes, that's supposed to be ironic)
6263  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 04:10:36 AM

Oh, so you admit that your "free societies" never last because control is wrested from them just when things are getting good. That's a flaw.

Yes, we fail to start shooting people when they start to oppress us. We're only human after all. It's a flaw that could be fixed.
6264  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 04:08:09 AM
You've presented no flaw which I or another haven't shot down. Unless you can...?

He has asserted flaws. Which is apparently all the argument needed.

Flaws pointed out need to be shown to not actually be flaws.
Unfounded assertions may be dismissed out-of-hand.
6265  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 04:05:57 AM
So... you're not going to be presenting any flaws, because I wouldn't address them? Even after I've specifically requested that you present them so I could address them? And if I do address them, well, that's just circular reasoning.  Roll Eyes

Don't you know? A free society just can't succeed. Despite the fact that time and time again, every time a society manages to make itself more free, unprecedented levels of prosperity and advancement ensue (at least until the statists wrest control again).
6266  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 03:58:46 AM
You've presented no flaw which I or another haven't shot down. Unless you can...?

He has asserted flaws. Which is apparently all the argument needed.
6267  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 03:56:39 AM
Thus my earlier criticism still stands that these people are wrong in choosing not to think.

What makes you think that we haven't examined these concepts down to first principles? Granted, some might not have, but I know I have, and found it to be a logically consistent and viable philosophy.

That's how I got here, I didn't understand how come I was swinging left-to-right and back again then couldn't seem to agree with any of it. Then I took a critical look at the underpinnings of my beliefs and found that I was favoring those which maximized liberty. Once I started to cut away the woolly thinking, it was an eye opener.
6268  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 30, 2012, 03:51:51 AM

Perhaps my example was too simplistic. By 'program' I meant create and then unleash an autonomous system that would not be subsequently changed. This is analogous to AnCap's or Libertarianism's non-aggression principle, which someone once created, but now it always stays the same. To 'run' the NAP program you just follow simple instructions. The 'programmer' would be some philosopher who probably died long ago.

However, you inadvertently allude to another point: the morality of "just following orders" (just like a good, obedient soldier.) Arguably it's actually worse if a human blindly follows someone else's code, than a computer (or human body-part) where at least there's a responsible person in charge. Thus my earlier criticism still stands that these people are wrong in choosing not to think. They are abdicating responsibility for their actions, and couching their actions in terms of "being morally righteous because XYZ philosopher said so, here's the link".

Edit: just to flesh it out a bit more, it's important to distinguish between the morality of the philosopher versus the morality of his disciples. I contend that although the (probably deceased) Libertarian philosophers may have been extremely moral, their disciples might not be. Like I said, blind computer-like idolatry seems amoral.

The NAP does not guide every single action, it merely gives a limit to some actions. It is proscriptive, not prescriptive. The idea that people who hold it as an important principle are some kind of automatons is laughable.
6269  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Indiana State Police Chief: Legalize and Tax Pot on: November 30, 2012, 12:25:04 AM
True. And I'm sure the feds won't be able to resist putting their fingers in the pie as soon as they can. I'm just wondering how the new laws leave things right now.
6270  Other / Meta / Re: Forum-Based Games: How can I see if someone edited his Post? on: November 29, 2012, 10:06:17 PM
If you enable notification of new replies, it may contain the reply in the email notification.
6271  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 29, 2012, 08:36:21 PM
It is a simple matter to trick illiterates from Myanmar into signing incomplete contracts. We do it every day. Grin

Hmm. Just doing some reading about why such desperate people would be coming out of Myanmar. Interesting so far. Guess which word beginning with "g" describes the reason?
LOL, they are coming to a country where g owns all the companies. "Singapore, Inc." is the State slogan.
 

That makes some sense when there is a lot of money to be had and the conditions are at least livable (I have known several Brits who spent a couple of uncomfortable years in Dubai and came back with their pockets stuffed with money). If you're living as a prisoner for a pittance and hanging off the outsides of a skyscraper cleaning windows with a rag and a spray-bottle, there's more to it. Myanmar currently has 90,000 internally displaced people and a large ethnic group that the government refuses to recognize as citizens (not illegal immigrants by my reading either). Plus a lot else besides.


There are good g's, bad g's, and g's that are simply amoral. Singapore, Inc. falls in the latter category.

Personally, I'd describe aspects of what you're telling me as downright evil.
6272  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 29, 2012, 08:00:21 PM
It is a simple matter to trick illiterates from Myanmar into signing incomplete contracts. We do it every day. Grin

Hmm. Just doing some reading about why such desperate people would be coming out of Myanmar. Interesting so far. Guess which word beginning with "g" describes the reason?
6273  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 29, 2012, 07:57:05 PM
It is a reasonable question of exactly how far should you be able to contract and how enforcible it should be. Things like duress obviously negate contracts and competency to enter a contract is also a requirement. But after the fact of a contract entered purely voluntarily? Since I don't swing quite that extreme, it's something of an "angels on the head of a pin" argument for me but I am somewhat sympathetic to the AnCap position so I take an interest.

Again, though, it's down to the ability to enforce the contract. In this case, it appears to be the state in some cases doing the enforcing and in other cases, failing to enforce what laws there are (or, in the case of the lack of such law, the state designating a set of second class individual since I'm sure it would not be acceptable for its citizens to be treated this way).
6274  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 29, 2012, 05:04:56 PM
Cunicula, which parts of the contract are you referring to specifically? Likely there are some aspects that would be acceptable and some that would not and possibly some gray areas that would be subject to common sense.

Balahdeblah, Breaking a contract is typically a civil matter. In theory there could be criminal actions involved. However, it wouldn't be possible for someone to write in to your contract that if you didn't polish the silverware sufficiently, you could be arrested for rape. Clearly this is an example of government stepping over its correct role.

If the story was that workers who tried to leave their employers houses were being rounded up and imprisoned by private security companies, that would be a different story but apparently, it isn't.
6275  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Supreme Court rules taping police is a 1st Amendment right on: November 29, 2012, 03:53:31 PM
I don't see how this is a first amendment issue (unless it was actually the publishing and not the recording that was at issue).

Of course, it absolutely should be allowed. Which probably means that there was a door the court didn't want to open by finding in favor for the *real* reason.
6276  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Indiana State Police Chief: Legalize and Tax Pot on: November 29, 2012, 03:48:39 PM
I can feel the winds of change, but I just hope all these states that will end up legalizing it don't have ridiculous tax rates. I don't mind paying a little but I keep hearing politicians talking about 25-30% tax rates and that's just ridiculous.

I understand it's easy to grow. How do they stand on that?
6277  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 29, 2012, 03:43:22 PM
To reiterate, the servant cannot legally leave the master's house without permission.


This, right here, is a large part of the problem from what you have described.

The lack of a robust State to maintain pesky "pro little people" laws, which would introduce distortions into the Libertarian economy?

"To reiterate, the servant cannot legally leave the master's house without permission. "

Who, exactly, makes things legal and illegal?
6278  Other / Politics & Society / Re: How Libertarianism was created by big business lobbyists on: November 29, 2012, 02:50:31 PM
To reiterate, the servant cannot legally leave the master's house without permission.


This, right here, is a large part of the problem from what you have described.
6279  Economy / Economics / Re: Thorium power, how is it going in the US? on: November 29, 2012, 02:46:01 PM
We won't run out of it any time soon. The earth's crust is estimated to contain over a trillion tons of thorium, where each ton is capable of producing a gigawatt-year of energy when burned in a LFTR. Compare this to the number of tons of coal a 1 GW power plant needs to consume in a year.
In fact, if you collected the ashes from a 1 GW coal power plant produced in the course of a year you'd find 13 tons of thorium.

In other words the usable energy content of coal is 93% nuclear and 7% chemical and right now we're completely ignoring the nuclear energy.

WAAAAAT.


GIIIGAAA-WAAAAAT
6280  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Is the life we live today worth what it took to get here ? on: November 28, 2012, 09:20:54 PM
I'm English so technically those Americans of you out there stole land from me in the revolution and you owe me some moolah. Send me your bitcoins. I work with a guy of Indian descent so I'll make sure to split it with him and we should all be square. Any Vikings out there contact me directly and we can discuss negotiations over all that raping and pillaging.
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