The communist roots of Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors referred to herself and cofounder Alicia Garza as “trained Marxists” in a recorded interview. [1] The third cofounder, Opal Tometi, wrote an article praising the socialist dictatorship of Venezuela, saying “We stand with the Venezuelan people as they build a revolutionary and popular democracy based on communal power”. [2] […]
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The Illusion of the Self
The Buddhist concept of non-self says that the self is an illusion, but the meaning of this is subtle and requires some elaboration. First we need to distinguish what I’ll call the “concept of self” and the “sense of self”. The concept of self is what you cognitively think of yourself as. The sense of […]
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We need to stop the lockdowns
The CDC says “In the coming months, most of the U.S. population will be exposed to this virus” (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/summary.html). “A panel of experts at the University of California, San Francisco, predicted that between 40 and 70% of Americans could become infected within the next 18 months” (https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-150-million-americans-may-get-infected-2020-3?op=1). The lockdowns are not going to stop or […]
Read more from the Ethics category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Market-priced Land Taxes
The puzzle I’ve been living in the Bay Area for 5 years now which has given me some time to reflect on the housing problem here. All along I’ve wanted to fully understand why this problem exists. In general, I think rushing to implement solutions without a solid understanding of the causes is likely to […]
Read more from the Political Philosophy category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: 7 Comments. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Agrarian Justice by Thomas Paine (1795)
In 1795, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet containing an introduction to the foundational principles of geolibertarian political philosophy. This was 84 years before the publication of Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty”. Although Paine’s proposed remedy seems oversimplified and potentially problematic, his motivation is much more compelling. “Civilization, therefore, or that which is so-called, has operated […]
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Fermi’s Paradox
Wikipedia describes Fermi’s Paradox as follows: “The apparent size and age of the universe suggest that many technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilizations ought to exist. However, this hypothesis seems inconsistent with the lack of observational evidence to support it.” Scientists estimate that out of the roughly 200 billion star systems in our Galaxy, there are roughly […]
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Is taxation theft?
Preamble: When discussing the question “is taxation theft?” people often commit the logical fallacy known as a “red herring” by diverting the discussion to the possible justifications for taxation rather than discussing the original question, which is whether taxation satisfies the formal definition of the word “theft”. Try to be cognizant of this. To determine […]
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A Buddhist vs. a Materialist on Consciousness
This is a hypothetical conversation between a Materialist (who believes that consciousness arises from the physical world), and a Buddhist (who believes that everyone shares one consciousness). Buddhist: How many consciousnesses does one person have? Materialist: One. Buddhist: What part of the body is responsible for the consciousness? Materialist: The brain. Buddhist: If someone’s brain […]
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Valuing a Human Life
Can you put a price on a human life? This is a question that a lot of people have trouble answering honestly. They say “no”, but their actions say “yes”. In this video, Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman explains how people put a price on their own lives when buying cars. (It’s important to […]
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A Simple Explanation of the Halting Problem
The halting problem is a problem in computer science that can be stated as follows: Given a description of an arbitrary computer program, decide whether the program finishes running or continues to run forever. (Wikipedia) Alan Turing proved that there is no program that can solve the halting problem for all possible inputs. Below is […]