Form: Reply

  • To Peter Boettke on Hayek And Mises’ Failures

    Peter, [I] have spent years on this question and I am fairly certain now that Mises’ work, like Bridgman’s was an unsuccessful attempt at developing operationalism. Both Mises and Popper can best be understood as cosmopolitan intellectuals bringing their pseudoscientific allegorical culture to their work, just as Kant brought continental duty and authority to his – both rebelling against anglo empiricism. Hayek could not solve the problem of the social sciences either. He correctly intuits that the problem exists, but he can only offer us laments, criticisms, and classical liberal solutions. Unfortunately he did not have decades of computer science to provide him with an alternative conceptual framework and terminology to replace his classical liberalism and moral psychology. Post mainstream economists cannot yet solve the relationship between mathematics, logic, ethics and economics. And Austrians should have. But the sad state of our ranks and the distraction of philosophers by the marxist, socialist, and postmodern programs misallocated intellectual capital in pursuit of the impossible. So when hayek says the 20th century will be remembered as an era of reemergent mysticism, he only knows something is wrong : endemic pseudoscience – but he does not know why or how to fix it. He was a herald and a critic but he did not solve it. So did Poincare, Mandelbrot, Bridgman, the mathematical Intuitionists. So did mises. The interesting insight that I have only recently understood, is that the other disciplines succeeded but their scope was narrower than that of economics. And had mises not failed. Had popper not failed. Had Hayek not failed, then the missing argument would have been available to the less complicated fields of math, logic and science, as well as economics. The insight that the only truth that can exist is performative, and the only possible claim to sufficient knowledge necessary to make a truth claim, is the demonstration if construction by operational means and measures. Ie: the problem is ethical. I am fairly certain now, that I have solved that mussing bit -by accident. And that the necessary insights exist in the multiple attempts at articulating operationalism in multiple fields – thereby solving, finally, the nature and definition of truth. This allows us to repair praxeology as an empirical research program whose theoretical constructs are reducible to operational statements, each of which is sympathetically testable by human perception, as to the rationality and volition of those statements. Ie: truth. Mises was too much on a mission, too arrogant, too culturally biased, and too ignorant of mathematics, science and philosophy to solve the problem. But he came closer than anyone else had to date.

  • can india do to protect the rights of indians working overseas- particularly in

    http://www.quora.com/What-can-the-Indian-government-do-to-protect-the-rights-of-Indian-laborers-in-foreign-countries-especially-in-the-Middle-East-Why-has-it-not-taken-any-action-till-now/answer/Curt-Doolittle?srid=u4Qv&share=1″What can india do to protect the rights of indians working overseas- particularly in Saudi Arabia.”

    Nothing other than trade sanctions, which would only cause those countries to deport the workers.

    One has no “rights” external to the territory we stand in. That is a phrase of modern mysticism. The USA postwar effort to encourage all states to care for their citizens in order to be treated as legitimate is or was a function of US military and Ideological dominance.

    As the postwar consensus fails, and american hegemony declines, and the american mandate for fixed borders and human rights declines, and america can no longer project sufficient power to mandate fixed borders and human tights, neither fixed borders nor human rights will remain.

    We have seen Russia conquer Ukraine. Mexico invade the USA through mass immigration. Israel extend its borders. China invade russia through mass immigration. China conquer the nearby sea and threaten Japan. And ISIS and Iran try to reestablish the caliphate.

    Meanwhile the euro project is failing. Civil wars and and secessionist movements are spreading.

    So if you cant keep your own country’s economic house in order (and india cant because of corruption – india is too big), and the USA cannot play world policeman, then you will be subject to whatever arbitrary rules exist wherever you are standing.


    Source date (UTC): 2014-06-29 04:32:00 UTC

  • What Current Prominent Americans Best Exemplify The Term “chickenhawk”?

    Please dont ask us to answer stupid questions.

    https://www.quora.com/What-current-prominent-Americans-best-exemplify-the-term-chickenhawk

  • What Can The Indian Government Do To Protect The Rights Of Indian Laborers In Foreign Countries Especially In The Middle East? Why Has It Not Taken Any Action Till Now?

    Nothing other than trade sanctions, which would only cause those countries to deport the workers. 

    One has no “rights” external to the territory we stand in.  That is a phrase of modern mysticism.  The USA postwar effort to encourage all states to care for their citizens in order to be treated as legitimate is or was a function of US military and Ideological dominance.

    As the postwar consensus fails, and american hegemony declines, and the american mandate for fixed borders and human rights declines, and america can no longer project sufficient power to mandate fixed borders and human tights, neither fixed borders nor human rights will remain. 

    We have seen Russia conquer Ukraine.  Mexico invade the USA through mass immigration. Israel extend its borders. China invade russia through mass immigration.  China conquer the nearby sea and threaten Japan. And ISIS and Iran try to reestablish the caliphate.

    Meanwhile the euro project is failing. Civil wars and and secessionist  movements are spreading.

    So if you cant keep your own country’s economic house in order (and india cant because of corruption – india is too big), and the USA cannot play world policeman, then you will be subject to whatever arbitrary rules exist wherever you are standing.

    https://www.quora.com/What-can-the-Indian-government-do-to-protect-the-rights-of-Indian-laborers-in-foreign-countries-especially-in-the-Middle-East-Why-has-it-not-taken-any-action-till-now

  • What Current Prominent Americans Best Exemplify The Term “chickenhawk”?

    Please dont ask us to answer stupid questions.

    https://www.quora.com/What-current-prominent-Americans-best-exemplify-the-term-chickenhawk

  • What Can The Indian Government Do To Protect The Rights Of Indian Laborers In Foreign Countries Especially In The Middle East? Why Has It Not Taken Any Action Till Now?

    Nothing other than trade sanctions, which would only cause those countries to deport the workers. 

    One has no “rights” external to the territory we stand in.  That is a phrase of modern mysticism.  The USA postwar effort to encourage all states to care for their citizens in order to be treated as legitimate is or was a function of US military and Ideological dominance.

    As the postwar consensus fails, and american hegemony declines, and the american mandate for fixed borders and human rights declines, and america can no longer project sufficient power to mandate fixed borders and human tights, neither fixed borders nor human rights will remain. 

    We have seen Russia conquer Ukraine.  Mexico invade the USA through mass immigration. Israel extend its borders. China invade russia through mass immigration.  China conquer the nearby sea and threaten Japan. And ISIS and Iran try to reestablish the caliphate.

    Meanwhile the euro project is failing. Civil wars and and secessionist  movements are spreading.

    So if you cant keep your own country’s economic house in order (and india cant because of corruption – india is too big), and the USA cannot play world policeman, then you will be subject to whatever arbitrary rules exist wherever you are standing.

    https://www.quora.com/What-can-the-Indian-government-do-to-protect-the-rights-of-Indian-laborers-in-foreign-countries-especially-in-the-Middle-East-Why-has-it-not-taken-any-action-till-now

  • "Curt, What Is Your Stance On IP?"

    QUESTION: “Hello Curt. What’s your stance on IP especially taking Kinsella’s arguments into account?” (Derogatory reference to Kinsella’s personality edited out. – Ed.) ANSWER: [I]n the abstract I agree with the principle that easily accessible licenses for limited monopolies are not beneficial for consumers. However, that rational argument may or may not mean much in practice. 1) IP does appear to rapidly affect business willingness to invest. So, just like property rights exclude people from commons to facilitate the willingness to take risks, IP excludes people from opportunities in order to facilitate the willingness of individuals to take risks. So empirically speaking and rationally speaking, these are trade-off questions not matters of truth and falsehood. 2) Humans don’t like free riding and we intuitively dislike direct copying – seeing it as a case of free riding. I think the question is limited to whether you’re fooling someone or not (trademarking). So as long as you’re not violating a trademark, which is a question of ‘weights and measures’, (fraud), then I think it’s hard to argue against copying anything at all. The test is pretty empirically simple – if you can glance at something for two seconds and tell the original from the copy, then it’s not a trademark violation. If you can then it is. It’s a pretty simple test. We have proven it over and over again. 3) For licensed monopolies, I think it is entirely moral to appeal to the ‘people’ asking for a limited monopoly to produce a good that the market cannot reliably produce. This tends kind of thing tends to be limited to very specific goods (health and medicine) or expensive original research in physical sciences, or high risk investments with high benefit to the commons (transportation and infrastructure). All that occurs is that private investment takes risk and reward, with some lottery bonus from the commons, that if they succeed they will recover their costs free of predation from others. Again, this is a purely pragmatic thing. And as long as such things are put out to ‘bid’, so that whomever wins gets the benefit, then I think it’s just a rational choice to get individuals do off book research and development on behalf of the commons in exchange for winning a lottery if they succeed. However I see these licenses as exceptions on the same level as laws, not grants to be easily obtained without serious discretion. 4) My problem with the rothbardian (ghetto) ethic is that it’s advocating free riding on the work of others, and NOT a matter of competition if you did not conduct the research yourself. Competition is not free riding, since you are doing a better job of voluntarily organizing production and satisfying customers. However, benefitting from someone else’s research and development and capturing the rewards for it is simply free riding. Again, I see the Rothbardian ethic as simply an obscurantist set of arguments meant to justify parasitism rather than enforcing the fundamental requirement for rational cooperation: that we all contribute to production without parasitism upon others. Humans punish cheaters. The only way to increase the velocity of production and trade is to increase trust, and the way to increase trust is to suppress all free riding so that every individual is forced to participate in production, rather than engage in parasitism. Rothbardianism is simply a complex, overloaded, obscurant argument meant to justify ghetto parasitism. It is irrational to choose a stateless polity with low trust and persistent retribution over a stateful polity with low trust and high suppression of retribution. This is why people demand the state: to suppress immoral and unethical people such as rothbardians, so that a high trust society can develop. An anarchic or private polity will only be possible to form under a high trust society that prohibits all free riding with the exception of kin. Curt Doolittle PS: I’m sure this will generate nonsense but I’m pretty sure my argument is rock solid. Just how it is. Rothbardians need to get over it.

  • “Curt, What Is Your Stance On IP?”

    QUESTION: “Hello Curt. What’s your stance on IP especially taking Kinsella’s arguments into account?” (Derogatory reference to Kinsella’s personality edited out. – Ed.) ANSWER: [I]n the abstract I agree with the principle that easily accessible licenses for limited monopolies are not beneficial for consumers. However, that rational argument may or may not mean much in practice. 1) IP does appear to rapidly affect business willingness to invest. So, just like property rights exclude people from commons to facilitate the willingness to take risks, IP excludes people from opportunities in order to facilitate the willingness of individuals to take risks. So empirically speaking and rationally speaking, these are trade-off questions not matters of truth and falsehood. 2) Humans don’t like free riding and we intuitively dislike direct copying – seeing it as a case of free riding. I think the question is limited to whether you’re fooling someone or not (trademarking). So as long as you’re not violating a trademark, which is a question of ‘weights and measures’, (fraud), then I think it’s hard to argue against copying anything at all. The test is pretty empirically simple – if you can glance at something for two seconds and tell the original from the copy, then it’s not a trademark violation. If you can then it is. It’s a pretty simple test. We have proven it over and over again. 3) For licensed monopolies, I think it is entirely moral to appeal to the ‘people’ asking for a limited monopoly to produce a good that the market cannot reliably produce. This tends kind of thing tends to be limited to very specific goods (health and medicine) or expensive original research in physical sciences, or high risk investments with high benefit to the commons (transportation and infrastructure). All that occurs is that private investment takes risk and reward, with some lottery bonus from the commons, that if they succeed they will recover their costs free of predation from others. Again, this is a purely pragmatic thing. And as long as such things are put out to ‘bid’, so that whomever wins gets the benefit, then I think it’s just a rational choice to get individuals do off book research and development on behalf of the commons in exchange for winning a lottery if they succeed. However I see these licenses as exceptions on the same level as laws, not grants to be easily obtained without serious discretion. 4) My problem with the rothbardian (ghetto) ethic is that it’s advocating free riding on the work of others, and NOT a matter of competition if you did not conduct the research yourself. Competition is not free riding, since you are doing a better job of voluntarily organizing production and satisfying customers. However, benefitting from someone else’s research and development and capturing the rewards for it is simply free riding. Again, I see the Rothbardian ethic as simply an obscurantist set of arguments meant to justify parasitism rather than enforcing the fundamental requirement for rational cooperation: that we all contribute to production without parasitism upon others. Humans punish cheaters. The only way to increase the velocity of production and trade is to increase trust, and the way to increase trust is to suppress all free riding so that every individual is forced to participate in production, rather than engage in parasitism. Rothbardianism is simply a complex, overloaded, obscurant argument meant to justify ghetto parasitism. It is irrational to choose a stateless polity with low trust and persistent retribution over a stateful polity with low trust and high suppression of retribution. This is why people demand the state: to suppress immoral and unethical people such as rothbardians, so that a high trust society can develop. An anarchic or private polity will only be possible to form under a high trust society that prohibits all free riding with the exception of kin. Curt Doolittle PS: I’m sure this will generate nonsense but I’m pretty sure my argument is rock solid. Just how it is. Rothbardians need to get over it.

  • "Curt, What Is Your Stance On IP?"

    QUESTION: “Hello Curt. What’s your stance on IP especially taking Kinsella’s arguments into account?” (Derogatory reference to Kinsella’s personality edited out. – Ed.) ANSWER: [I]n the abstract I agree with the principle that easily accessible licenses for limited monopolies are not beneficial for consumers. However, that rational argument may or may not mean much in practice. 1) IP does appear to rapidly affect business willingness to invest. So, just like property rights exclude people from commons to facilitate the willingness to take risks, IP excludes people from opportunities in order to facilitate the willingness of individuals to take risks. So empirically speaking and rationally speaking, these are trade-off questions not matters of truth and falsehood. 2) Humans don’t like free riding and we intuitively dislike direct copying – seeing it as a case of free riding. I think the question is limited to whether you’re fooling someone or not (trademarking). So as long as you’re not violating a trademark, which is a question of ‘weights and measures’, (fraud), then I think it’s hard to argue against copying anything at all. The test is pretty empirically simple – if you can glance at something for two seconds and tell the original from the copy, then it’s not a trademark violation. If you can then it is. It’s a pretty simple test. We have proven it over and over again. 3) For licensed monopolies, I think it is entirely moral to appeal to the ‘people’ asking for a limited monopoly to produce a good that the market cannot reliably produce. This tends kind of thing tends to be limited to very specific goods (health and medicine) or expensive original research in physical sciences, or high risk investments with high benefit to the commons (transportation and infrastructure). All that occurs is that private investment takes risk and reward, with some lottery bonus from the commons, that if they succeed they will recover their costs free of predation from others. Again, this is a purely pragmatic thing. And as long as such things are put out to ‘bid’, so that whomever wins gets the benefit, then I think it’s just a rational choice to get individuals do off book research and development on behalf of the commons in exchange for winning a lottery if they succeed. However I see these licenses as exceptions on the same level as laws, not grants to be easily obtained without serious discretion. 4) My problem with the rothbardian (ghetto) ethic is that it’s advocating free riding on the work of others, and NOT a matter of competition if you did not conduct the research yourself. Competition is not free riding, since you are doing a better job of voluntarily organizing production and satisfying customers. However, benefitting from someone else’s research and development and capturing the rewards for it is simply free riding. Again, I see the Rothbardian ethic as simply an obscurantist set of arguments meant to justify parasitism rather than enforcing the fundamental requirement for rational cooperation: that we all contribute to production without parasitism upon others. Humans punish cheaters. The only way to increase the velocity of production and trade is to increase trust, and the way to increase trust is to suppress all free riding so that every individual is forced to participate in production, rather than engage in parasitism. Rothbardianism is simply a complex, overloaded, obscurant argument meant to justify ghetto parasitism. It is irrational to choose a stateless polity with low trust and persistent retribution over a stateful polity with low trust and high suppression of retribution. This is why people demand the state: to suppress immoral and unethical people such as rothbardians, so that a high trust society can develop. An anarchic or private polity will only be possible to form under a high trust society that prohibits all free riding with the exception of kin. Curt Doolittle PS: I’m sure this will generate nonsense but I’m pretty sure my argument is rock solid. Just how it is. Rothbardians need to get over it.

  • “Curt, What Is Your Stance On IP?”

    QUESTION: “Hello Curt. What’s your stance on IP especially taking Kinsella’s arguments into account?” (Derogatory reference to Kinsella’s personality edited out. – Ed.) ANSWER: [I]n the abstract I agree with the principle that easily accessible licenses for limited monopolies are not beneficial for consumers. However, that rational argument may or may not mean much in practice. 1) IP does appear to rapidly affect business willingness to invest. So, just like property rights exclude people from commons to facilitate the willingness to take risks, IP excludes people from opportunities in order to facilitate the willingness of individuals to take risks. So empirically speaking and rationally speaking, these are trade-off questions not matters of truth and falsehood. 2) Humans don’t like free riding and we intuitively dislike direct copying – seeing it as a case of free riding. I think the question is limited to whether you’re fooling someone or not (trademarking). So as long as you’re not violating a trademark, which is a question of ‘weights and measures’, (fraud), then I think it’s hard to argue against copying anything at all. The test is pretty empirically simple – if you can glance at something for two seconds and tell the original from the copy, then it’s not a trademark violation. If you can then it is. It’s a pretty simple test. We have proven it over and over again. 3) For licensed monopolies, I think it is entirely moral to appeal to the ‘people’ asking for a limited monopoly to produce a good that the market cannot reliably produce. This tends kind of thing tends to be limited to very specific goods (health and medicine) or expensive original research in physical sciences, or high risk investments with high benefit to the commons (transportation and infrastructure). All that occurs is that private investment takes risk and reward, with some lottery bonus from the commons, that if they succeed they will recover their costs free of predation from others. Again, this is a purely pragmatic thing. And as long as such things are put out to ‘bid’, so that whomever wins gets the benefit, then I think it’s just a rational choice to get individuals do off book research and development on behalf of the commons in exchange for winning a lottery if they succeed. However I see these licenses as exceptions on the same level as laws, not grants to be easily obtained without serious discretion. 4) My problem with the rothbardian (ghetto) ethic is that it’s advocating free riding on the work of others, and NOT a matter of competition if you did not conduct the research yourself. Competition is not free riding, since you are doing a better job of voluntarily organizing production and satisfying customers. However, benefitting from someone else’s research and development and capturing the rewards for it is simply free riding. Again, I see the Rothbardian ethic as simply an obscurantist set of arguments meant to justify parasitism rather than enforcing the fundamental requirement for rational cooperation: that we all contribute to production without parasitism upon others. Humans punish cheaters. The only way to increase the velocity of production and trade is to increase trust, and the way to increase trust is to suppress all free riding so that every individual is forced to participate in production, rather than engage in parasitism. Rothbardianism is simply a complex, overloaded, obscurant argument meant to justify ghetto parasitism. It is irrational to choose a stateless polity with low trust and persistent retribution over a stateful polity with low trust and high suppression of retribution. This is why people demand the state: to suppress immoral and unethical people such as rothbardians, so that a high trust society can develop. An anarchic or private polity will only be possible to form under a high trust society that prohibits all free riding with the exception of kin. Curt Doolittle PS: I’m sure this will generate nonsense but I’m pretty sure my argument is rock solid. Just how it is. Rothbardians need to get over it.