Bitcoin’s Untapped Possibilities
Bitcoin is more than a libertarian dream currency; it is a platform for financial innovation, another tool in the fight against global poverty, and a much-needed veil of privacy for oppressed groups.
Author: Andrea CastilloFollow @anjiecast
Clans, States, and Individual Liberty
We know that clan-based societies grow more liberal and less violent after they develop states, but would state-based societies grow less liberal if a decentralized order was to emerge?
How Commerce Expands Culture
There is no reason to think that the state will be a responsible steward of our culture. Our cultural history gives us every reason to believe that capitalism will continue to provide the diversity and quality of forms that we have come to take for granted.
Government: Once Necessary, but Not Inevitable
Whether arising from the direct reduction of violence through the state’s capacity as the keeper of order, or as an accidental adaptation built on a tendency for the strong to exploit the weak, the rise of the state is associated a reduction in violence and increase in conditions that are favorable for trade and growth. At a time when the milk of human morality was only reserved for one’s closest kin, the reduction in violence brought on by the brute force of the state allowed for the development of commerce and culture that has since made the state irrelevant.
Don’t [Fuel a Moral] Panic!
Random acts of public violence stir emotions of sadness, anger, revenge, and resolution. Although this is precisely the time that we need clear-headed thinking the most, it is unfortunately these occasions where we most often fuel unproductive moral panics instead.
The Problems with ‘Patriarchy’
Despite its popularity, the theory of patriarchy leaves much to be desired in explaining gender relations and outcomes. It is not hard to look at society and see how culture exploits women. What is more concealed, and in many ways, more interesting, is considering how culture exploits both men and women. The trade-offs that led to this dual exploitation was ultimately for the good of both groups.
Noble Savages and Savage Nobles
Warring tribes to the left of him, scheming scholars to the right: how one anthropologist uncovered some uncomfortable truths about human nature in the jungle and the academy.
Separating Prudence and Blame
If we are serious about our intentions to lower rates of violence against young women, we must be able to detect and distinguish the virtue of prudence from the vice of blame.
When Science Looks Like Religion
Is all “science” created the same? In fields that lack mechanisms to encourage diversity of opinion and discourage emotional attachment to the subject of inquiry, their practitioners run the risk of being guided more by their biases than by the scientific method.
Artists for Capitalism?
Can capitalism reclaim a portion of the moral high ground? For decades, the frustrating market pressures facing artists has left the creative class with a less-than-favorable opinion of capitalism, and it shines through in their works. The latest stirrings of a small pro-market contingency within the creative class might be an indicator of changing sensibilities.
