LIBERTARIAN TIMES – ISSUE #6, MAY 15, 2009
Editorial
A reader question will kick off today’s issue:
“What are the advantages to dealing with other Libertarians as opposed to the general population?”
Of course, I would like to hear your answers but here is mine, albeit rather lengthy.
Having being involved in Libertarian circles, on and off, for well over 30 years, my “dealings” have been limited to attending conferences and reading Libertarian newsletters and literature. During my politically active time (1975-1981) there was greater involvement with members of the party, of course, but the focus was purely on political objectives: increasing membership, running for elections, media interaction, and fund raising. Collaboration on non-political ventures, such as economic ones, was not on the agenda.
In hindsight, I don’t really know why it wasn’t but in those days, we kept our private and political lives very separate. So, for work or business, we dealt with the general population. And have done so pretty much ever since. Our interest in things Libertarian seemed to be limited to intellectual and philosophical discussion and, every few years or so at election time, a bit of political activity.
Therefore the question that has been raised, why we would want to deal with Libertarians (for economic collaboration) as opposed to the general population, has basically not been asked before. So, thanks for bringing it up!
Individual Libertarians have participated (and still do) in business ventures and will continue to do so, where their objectives, interests and experiences bring them logically together. But in most cases that I know of, the fact that they were Libertarians was incidental. They would have done it anyway because it made business sense.
My quest today is for Libertarians to collaborate on economic ventures for the benefit of the Libertarian “cause” as well as for the benefit of the collaborators themselves, in the same sense that social entrepreneurship, as opposed to “simple” entrepreneurship, seeks an objective that is greater than the “mere” pursuit of profit.
The advent of the global economic crisis and its potential negative impact on personal freedom and free enterprise prompted this quest. The collapse of communism some 20 years ago and now the perceived “collapse of capitalism”, as promoted by much of the media and most politicians now in power, has created a vacuum in the minds of many people, especially young people starting out in their economic life and facing a lot of confusion as to their future.
This vacuum will be filled by governments or, if you belong to the conspiratorial class, by the power elite that is using or manipulating governments to retain control over the masses for their own ends. Where is/are the alternative(s)?
Libertarians face an historic opportunity to provide that, or at least one, alternative!
We have been discussing philosophy and theory for many years. Here is the opportunity and now is the time to put the philosophy and theories to the test and into practice! My aim, through this newsletter, has been to get Libertarians to collaborate not just for their own economic ends but to demonstrate to the world and especially to young Libertarians today that our philosophy is not just for intellectual entertainment but has practical and valuable application potential.
It is for this reason that Libertarians should “deal with” or collaborate with other Libertarians rather than the population at large, which “largely” does not understand or appreciate what our philosophy stands for.
And even though, as most of you pointed out, our philosophy does not generate the same degree of emotional attachment as a religious philosophy does, my suggestion to you is that collaboration on economic ventures that provide income, profit and work opportunities for Libertarians and simultaneously furthers the cause of Liberty should be our goal. I do not presume to have all the answers on how to do that and my aim through this newsletter was to invite your suggestions and ideas and arrive at an actionable plan.
My experience over the years has been that if you set a table with lots of dishes on it, many people will come to join you and eat. But if they have to bring their own chairs or even help to prepare the dishes, they tend to stay away. In our case here, the menu has not even been completed and I know that only the most committed and motivated among you would join to get the table set to the point where the majority will beg to be invited to dinner. If I prepare the menu myself, it will only have the things on it that I like. That’s why I need more cooks in the kitchen to make the menu as open and as palatable as possible.
Of course, we can start with a small menu and that is what is likely to happen. Other items will be added later but even to start, I would like to have at least a lot of ideas and agreement on what the first menu should look like. Can’t do it without you! So, please let me hear from you! Some of you have already given lots of suggestions and I am very grateful for that. Love to hear from the rest of you!
We shall end this week’s issue with another question from a reader who has much interaction with the “population at large” and comes across this question frequently:
“What’s so great about Freedom anyway?”
I have not spent any time in these and previous pages to discuss our philosophy and its benefits because I am largely preaching to the converted. However, this reader (from Western Europe) is pointing out some realities that would be good for us to ponder. Many if not most of the people in the “social-democratic or dirigiste” countries of Western Europe have little regard for or interest in personal freedom, taking responsibility or starting a business. The government takes care of them from cradle to grave and they love it. I go to school, I get a job, pay my taxes, go overseas for my annual holiday, and if anything should happen to me, like being sick or not able to find a job, the government will provide for me and ensure that I and my family do not go hungry. When I retire, I will get a decent pension and live out the rest of my life in peace among friends and relatives. Why on Earth would I want to be “free”? I can do most things that I want and the few that are prohibited don’t attract me anyway. Why do you fret so much about “freedom”?
And why should I take the risks of starting my own business? I may lose all of my money and that of my friends, relatives or bank. I have to work more than a regular work week and must solve all the problems that inevitably creep up in a new business. Much better to work for a large national or multinational company (or even for the government), go home after work and don’t have to spend all evening and night thinking about the company’s problems, get my sick and annual leave entitlements, and can focus on my family or personal life rather than how I am going to pay my employees or creditors, how to satisfy my customers, or how to handle the new competitor that just surfaced in my town.
Young people feel the same way and have few ambitions to “be different” from their peers. Finish my studies (ideally a liberal arts degree), have a great time while at university, get a job (or unemployment benefits), get married, have a car, kids and a mortgage (preferably in that order) and let the government take care of all the problems that arise, including the odd financial crisis.
This attitude is probably more prevalent in Europe than in the United States and is strongly encouraged not just by the government but also by parents, teachers and corporate business people.
What do we have to offer to these people? How can we frame our philosophical message to appeal to this mindset? And while we do not have to “convert” everyone “out there” to embrace personal freedom and responsibility, we should at least be aware that this mindset exists and not just in a few eccentrics but is well entrenched in many societies.
How do you respond? Especially if you live in one of the rich countries in Western Europe!
Cheers!
Andy
Editorial
A reader question will kick off today’s issue:
“What are the advantages to dealing with other Libertarians as opposed to the general population?”
Of course, I would like to hear your answers but here is mine, albeit rather lengthy.
Having being involved in Libertarian circles, on and off, for well over 30 years, my “dealings” have been limited to attending conferences and reading Libertarian newsletters and literature. During my politically active time (1975-1981) there was greater involvement with members of the party, of course, but the focus was purely on political objectives: increasing membership, running for elections, media interaction, and fund raising. Collaboration on non-political ventures, such as economic ones, was not on the agenda.
In hindsight, I don’t really know why it wasn’t but in those days, we kept our private and political lives very separate. So, for work or business, we dealt with the general population. And have done so pretty much ever since. Our interest in things Libertarian seemed to be limited to intellectual and philosophical discussion and, every few years or so at election time, a bit of political activity.
Therefore the question that has been raised, why we would want to deal with Libertarians (for economic collaboration) as opposed to the general population, has basically not been asked before. So, thanks for bringing it up!
Individual Libertarians have participated (and still do) in business ventures and will continue to do so, where their objectives, interests and experiences bring them logically together. But in most cases that I know of, the fact that they were Libertarians was incidental. They would have done it anyway because it made business sense.
My quest today is for Libertarians to collaborate on economic ventures for the benefit of the Libertarian “cause” as well as for the benefit of the collaborators themselves, in the same sense that social entrepreneurship, as opposed to “simple” entrepreneurship, seeks an objective that is greater than the “mere” pursuit of profit.
The advent of the global economic crisis and its potential negative impact on personal freedom and free enterprise prompted this quest. The collapse of communism some 20 years ago and now the perceived “collapse of capitalism”, as promoted by much of the media and most politicians now in power, has created a vacuum in the minds of many people, especially young people starting out in their economic life and facing a lot of confusion as to their future.
This vacuum will be filled by governments or, if you belong to the conspiratorial class, by the power elite that is using or manipulating governments to retain control over the masses for their own ends. Where is/are the alternative(s)?
Libertarians face an historic opportunity to provide that, or at least one, alternative!
We have been discussing philosophy and theory for many years. Here is the opportunity and now is the time to put the philosophy and theories to the test and into practice! My aim, through this newsletter, has been to get Libertarians to collaborate not just for their own economic ends but to demonstrate to the world and especially to young Libertarians today that our philosophy is not just for intellectual entertainment but has practical and valuable application potential.
It is for this reason that Libertarians should “deal with” or collaborate with other Libertarians rather than the population at large, which “largely” does not understand or appreciate what our philosophy stands for.
And even though, as most of you pointed out, our philosophy does not generate the same degree of emotional attachment as a religious philosophy does, my suggestion to you is that collaboration on economic ventures that provide income, profit and work opportunities for Libertarians and simultaneously furthers the cause of Liberty should be our goal. I do not presume to have all the answers on how to do that and my aim through this newsletter was to invite your suggestions and ideas and arrive at an actionable plan.
My experience over the years has been that if you set a table with lots of dishes on it, many people will come to join you and eat. But if they have to bring their own chairs or even help to prepare the dishes, they tend to stay away. In our case here, the menu has not even been completed and I know that only the most committed and motivated among you would join to get the table set to the point where the majority will beg to be invited to dinner. If I prepare the menu myself, it will only have the things on it that I like. That’s why I need more cooks in the kitchen to make the menu as open and as palatable as possible.
Of course, we can start with a small menu and that is what is likely to happen. Other items will be added later but even to start, I would like to have at least a lot of ideas and agreement on what the first menu should look like. Can’t do it without you! So, please let me hear from you! Some of you have already given lots of suggestions and I am very grateful for that. Love to hear from the rest of you!
We shall end this week’s issue with another question from a reader who has much interaction with the “population at large” and comes across this question frequently:
“What’s so great about Freedom anyway?”
I have not spent any time in these and previous pages to discuss our philosophy and its benefits because I am largely preaching to the converted. However, this reader (from Western Europe) is pointing out some realities that would be good for us to ponder. Many if not most of the people in the “social-democratic or dirigiste” countries of Western Europe have little regard for or interest in personal freedom, taking responsibility or starting a business. The government takes care of them from cradle to grave and they love it. I go to school, I get a job, pay my taxes, go overseas for my annual holiday, and if anything should happen to me, like being sick or not able to find a job, the government will provide for me and ensure that I and my family do not go hungry. When I retire, I will get a decent pension and live out the rest of my life in peace among friends and relatives. Why on Earth would I want to be “free”? I can do most things that I want and the few that are prohibited don’t attract me anyway. Why do you fret so much about “freedom”?
And why should I take the risks of starting my own business? I may lose all of my money and that of my friends, relatives or bank. I have to work more than a regular work week and must solve all the problems that inevitably creep up in a new business. Much better to work for a large national or multinational company (or even for the government), go home after work and don’t have to spend all evening and night thinking about the company’s problems, get my sick and annual leave entitlements, and can focus on my family or personal life rather than how I am going to pay my employees or creditors, how to satisfy my customers, or how to handle the new competitor that just surfaced in my town.
Young people feel the same way and have few ambitions to “be different” from their peers. Finish my studies (ideally a liberal arts degree), have a great time while at university, get a job (or unemployment benefits), get married, have a car, kids and a mortgage (preferably in that order) and let the government take care of all the problems that arise, including the odd financial crisis.
This attitude is probably more prevalent in Europe than in the United States and is strongly encouraged not just by the government but also by parents, teachers and corporate business people.
What do we have to offer to these people? How can we frame our philosophical message to appeal to this mindset? And while we do not have to “convert” everyone “out there” to embrace personal freedom and responsibility, we should at least be aware that this mindset exists and not just in a few eccentrics but is well entrenched in many societies.
How do you respond? Especially if you live in one of the rich countries in Western Europe!
Cheers!
Andy
Pentagon Preps Soldier Telepathy Push
By Katie Drummond
May 14, 2009
10:46 am
Categories: Army and Marines, DarpaWatch, Science!
Forget the battlefield radios, the combat PDAs or even infantry hand signals. When the soldiers of the future want to communicate, they’ll read each other’s minds.
At least, that’s the hope of researchers at the Pentagon’s mad-science division Darpa. The agency’s budget for the next fiscal year includes $4 million to start up a program called Silent Talk. The goal is to “allow user-to-user communication on the battlefield without the use of vocalized speech through analysis of neural signals.” That’s on top of the $4 million the Army handed out last year to the University of California to investigate the potential for computer-mediated telepathy.
By Katie Drummond
May 14, 2009
10:46 am
Categories: Army and Marines, DarpaWatch, Science!
Forget the battlefield radios, the combat PDAs or even infantry hand signals. When the soldiers of the future want to communicate, they’ll read each other’s minds.
At least, that’s the hope of researchers at the Pentagon’s mad-science division Darpa. The agency’s budget for the next fiscal year includes $4 million to start up a program called Silent Talk. The goal is to “allow user-to-user communication on the battlefield without the use of vocalized speech through analysis of neural signals.” That’s on top of the $4 million the Army handed out last year to the University of California to investigate the potential for computer-mediated telepathy.
Before being vocalized, speech exists as word-specific neural signals in the mind. Darpa wants to develop technology that would detect these signals of “pre-speech,” analyze them, and then transmit the statement to an intended interlocutor. Darpa plans to use EEG to read the brain waves. It’s a technique they’re also testing in a project to devise mind-reading binoculars that alert soldiers to threats faster the conscious mind can process them.
The project has three major goals, according to Darpa. First, try to map a person’s EEG patterns to his or her individual words. Then, see if those patterns are generalizable — if everyone has similar patterns. Last, “construct a fieldable pre-prototype that would decode the signal and transmit over a limited range.”
The military has been funding a handful of mind-tapping technology recently, and already have monkeys capable of telepathic limb control. Telepathy may also have advantages beyond covert battlefield chatter. Last year, the National Research Council and the Defense Intelligence Agency released a report suggesting that neuroscience might also be useful to “make the enemy obey our commands.” The first step, though, may be getting a grunt to obey his officer’s remotely-transmitted thoughts.
– Katie Drummond and Noah Shachtman
– Katie Drummond and Noah Shachtman
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