Category Archives: video

Curtis Yarvin’s mild critique of libertarianism

Michael Malice invited Dave Smith and Curtis Yarvin onto his show “Your Welcome” to discuss Yarvin’s critique of libertarianism. Yarvin’s arguments aren’t all that novel or interesting, but Malice and Smith keep the show lively by interjecting humor and sensible opinions.

Yarvin thinks libertarianism is unstable, but doesn’t make any arguments as to why. He assumes doomsday scenarios would be triggered by an abrupt move to libertarian principles, e.g. an end to inflation. He thinks libertarianism is not the most effective way to solve problems because it prohibits the use of aggression. And he apparently likes aggression very much, because he argues in favor of inflation, taxes, and wealth redistribution as a practical strategy for improving society. Apparently when he moved away from libertarianism, he moved in the direction of the liberals he so despises.

Julian Lincoln Simon

Julian L. Simon was an economist who showed how capitalism and population growth have been hugely beneficial for the standard of living of people all over the world. His book The Ultimate Resource is highly recommended for all anarcho-capitalists. For those who have not read it and would like to hear the main ideas from the man himself, check out the following video interview:

For a more detailed introduction see:

David D. Friedman on Problems with Libertarianism

In this video from 1981, David D. Friedman lists some unresolved problems with libertarianism and also tells some funny stories about Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and Ayn Rand. In general, he thinks that libertarians are too confident in their ability to answer all real world problems given the current state of libertarian ethical theory. For anyone interested in the fundamentals of libertarianism, this video will be a lot of fun.

 

TL;DW: First, he is concerned that there is no pre-defined rule for quantifying the kind and quantity of punishment and restitution that is appropriate in response to crimes. Continue reading