POPULARITY
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by economist and economic historian Robert Higgs from 2013. This is an intellectual tour de force from Higgs, where he demolishes many of the popular misconceptions about (and justifications for) the state.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by historian and Austro-libertarian Tom Woods from 2008. He talks about anti-capitalist thought and the disasters that flow from it, from American history.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 464 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: an article he wrote in September 2011 titled, "That Time I was Exploited by a Day Laborer"; and an article he wrote in May 2018 titled, "Compounded Ignorance Leads to Hubris".
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a talk by Rabbi Daniel Lapin from 2009. He explores the ethics of free markets and economic freedom.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features an interview of research economist Michele Boldrin from 2009 by Russ Roberts, host of Econtalk. Boldrin argues that copyright and patent are used by the politically powerful to maintain monopoly profits. He argues that the incentive effects that have been used to justify copyright and patents are exaggerated--few examples from history suggest that the temporary and not-so-temporary monopoly power from copyright and patents were necessary to induce innovation. Boldrin reviews some of that evidence and talks about the nature of competition.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by journalist and television personality John Stossel from 2016. Stossel looks at reasons to favor freedom and free markets over government control and coercion.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a talk by libertarian activist and organizer Samuel Edward Konkin III (SEK3) from 1975. He discusses the strategy of counter-economics in achieving a free society.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by philosopher Roderick Long from 2007. Professor Long explores praxeology, the study of human action, and how it relates to economics and the Austrian School.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 061 looks at being prepared to replace significant parts of an older house after buying one; drinking water before bed to help you get up early in the morning; recognizing that even your side of the political spectrum engages in propaganda from time to time (or even most of the time); and paying yourself first after receiving your paycheck by immediately transferring half or more of it into savings.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 463 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following aphorisms written by Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski: "A 'guaranteed profit' is something akin to a riskless danger."; "A fool believes that liberty comes from participation in power. A person of reason knows that it comes from dissipation of power."; "A libertarian does not oppose the welfare state because he does not care about the poor, but because he cares about them too much to believe they deserve being caught in the web of lies, empty promises, perpetual dependence, hate-mongering, and cultural degradation created by self-serving, power-hungry crooks."; "It takes a common thug to commit injustice, but it takes an exceptional thug to call it 'social justice'."; "Collectivism: the practice of exploiting humans in the name of humankind."; and "All delusions aside, personal development consists in little more than scrubbing oneself clean of endless layers of folly."
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features an audio essay written by economics professor and Austro-libertarian Walter Block from 1976, and which comprises Chapter 20 of Defending the Undefendable.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features an audio essay written by an anonymous author titled, “Do You Really ‘Owe’ Those Taxes?” The essay was published at Voluntaryist.com and recorded by Rodger Paxton. Listen To This Episode (13m, mp3, 64kbps) Subscribe via RSS here, or in any podcast app by searching for “voluntaryist voices”. Support the podcast at Patreon.com/evc or PayPal.me/everythingvoluntary.…
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 462 has Skyler giving his commentary on several quotes about noncomformity published be Jon Miltimore at the Foundation for Economic Education.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by historian Jim Powell from 2011. For thousands of years, slavery went unchallenged in principle. Then in a single century, slavery was abolished and more than seven million slaves were freed throughout the Western hemisphere. The scope and speed of this transformation make it one of the most amazing feats in modern history. Powell concisely illuminates the beginnings of the abolitionist movement, then proceeds through the processes, the battles, the final victory of emancipation, and the incredible impact of its aftermath. Ultimately, Powell argues, the more violence was involved in the emancipation process, the worse the outcomes were, making a provocative case for peaceful antislavery struggles.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 060 looks at two Stoic topics: the first from Marcus Aurelius who wrote, "If someone is slipping up, kindly correct them and point out what they missed. But if you can’t, blame yourself—or no one."; and the second from r/Stoicism, a post by daviddigit, which started, "I wanted to share a practical exercise that really rocked my world this week. I am inherently an extremely critical person, of myself and others. So this week I was at the airport and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to practice care/love instead of judgment."
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 461 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: taking responsibility for a fetus whose mother wants to abort it; taking responsibility for a child whose parents want to abandon it; taking responsibility for your neighbor's welfare; taking responsibility for a criminal's incarceration; and more.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 460 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics from r/blackpeopletwitter and r/whitepeopletwitter: the preference for a 4 year police academy instead of a 6 month one; the Gamestop incident and revealing the rigged game; non-religious people and privately practiced religion; Marjorie Taylor Greene being allowed to help pass laws while Colin Kaepernick lost his job; and the need for a purpose or grand ambition in life.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 059 looks at the logical fallacy Context Imposition (aka Fantasy Projection) and the Hedonic Treadmill cognitive bias.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by philosopher Roderick Long from 2006. A legal system is an institution to provide dispute resolution through judicial, legislative and executive functions. The state is that which maintains in large part a monopoly over force, geography and the legal system. What’s wrong with a forcible monopoly? You are saying that you are the only one who has this right. Under anarchy there is equality of authority. No one has monopolies of force or jurisdiction. Dispute resolutions are referred to arbitration. Anarchy is founded when one bypasses the state into voluntary system and the state withers away.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 459 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: an article he wrote in August 2011 titled, "When Does Law Become Criminal?"; and an article he wrote in May 2018 titled, "Technology Kills the State, Over and Over".
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 458 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: the short squeeze that happened to, at least, GameStop stock, costing one hedge fund $13.1B in losses (see Wikipedia); from CTVNews.com, "Ontario barbershop reopens despite provincial lockdown using loophole"; and from Reuters.com, "Scottish nationalists lay groundwork for second independence referendum".
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features an interview of professor emeritus Terry L. Anderson from 2014 by Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk. They talk about free-market environmentalism, the dynamics of the Yellowstone ecosystem, and how property rights can protect natural resources.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 058 looks at trying new things to prevent brain complacency; the importance of empathizing with people who've made a mistake, rather than demonizing them; and the timer method to overcoming procrastination.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 457 has Skyler reading and adding commentary on a blog post by psychology research professor Dr. Peter Gray, who shares and analyzes research by Dr. Kirsten Olson on the many wounds caused by schooling.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features an audio essay written by musician Alan Southgate in 2015, as published in Unschooling Dads: Twenty-two Testimonials on Their Unconventional Approach to Education, edited by Skyler J. Collins.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 456 welcomes back Alex R. Knight III to the podcast to chat with Skyler on the following topics: pessimism about the future of America; the display of dominance by the corrupt left over Trump for 4 years; the press revealing their strong leftist bias by going silent now that the Presidency is in Democratic hands; Twitter as Establishment, not radical left; Stefan Molyneux; the justice in destroying the US Capitol building (a monument to slavery and continual oppression); a thought experiment on acquitting an unpopular defendant even when widespread riots are guaranteed; politicians and bureaucrats being put under oath and having their claims cross-examined; the fact that government actors have no skin in the game of interfering with our lives; the character flaw that is allowing yourself to assume authority over others without liability (immunity); talking to cops about why they became cops and seeing how far they've been corrupted away from those probably noble reasons; normalizing adult drug use, such as is Dr. Carl Hart on Rogan and Reason podcasts; and more.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 057 looks at two Stoic topics: the first from Marcus Aurelius who wrote, "It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up, if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed."; and the second from r/Stoicism, a post by EricHennigan, which started, "I was thinking about Epictetus' reminder that some things are under our control and others not. If we push this idea really hard, there are many things that I might naively consider under my control, but which, when examined more closely are not. For example, thoughts randomly bubble into my mind and I do not control that. Emotions can overwhelm my rational faculties, causing me a temporary insanity. Many external factors control the direction of my life. The simple, naive, lowercase stoic advise seems to recommend that I not try to control things which I cannot. I think this interpretation would be a disastrous mistake."
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 455 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: why Martin Luther King, Jr. and the fight for civil rights was a libertarian movement; where wages came from and why they have been a blessing for humanity; why spanking is unintelligent, lazy, selfish, and unnecessary; and the central problem in social contract theory and a more accurate way to formulate it (as a peace treaty in a threat game).
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by economics and law professor Peter Leeson from 2016. Leeson uses rational choice theory to explore the benefits of self-governance. Relying on experience from the past and present, Professor Leeson provides evidence of anarchy 'working' where it is least expected to do so and explains how this is possible. Provocatively, Leeson argues that in some cases anarchy may even outperform government as a system of social organization, and demonstrates where this may occur.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 454 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and what is and is not libertarian about it; Amazon Web Services cancelling their contract with social media platform Parler without the contractually specified notice of 30 days; what should happen to contracts in the future; examining our dependencies and building alternatives; and more.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 056 looks at Affirming the Consequent logical fallacy and the cognitive biases Primacy Effect and Recency Effect.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 453 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from APNews.com, "Leading human rights group calls Israel an 'apartheid' state"; from TheRegister.com, "Facebook appeals ruling that it stole tech. So, Italian judge issues new judgment: Pay 10 times the original fine"; from TheGuardian.com, "Dutch officials seize ham sandwiches of drivers arriving from UK"; and from AlJazeera.com, "Pakistan court sentences three to death for blasphemy".
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a lecture by evolutionary psychologist, research professor, and author Peter Gray from 2018 on the role of play in the development of human children, the growing lack of play over the past several decades, and how to bring more play into our children's lives.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 452 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following questions from Quora: he starts the episode with a complaint against Quora for banning it's most prolific author, Dennis Pratt; "How do Libertarians intend to implement/enforce the NAP?"; "Libertarians, what do you make of the argument that taxation isn't theft because you are able to choose your representatives, so either choose ones that disagree with taxation as well or start your own political party?"; and "What is a simple explanation of libertarianism?"
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 055 looks at keeping a tidy room (and home) by removing one or two items that don't belong every time you leave; asking someone to explain their conspiracy theory in detail in order for them to see its holes themselves; the difference between excitement from anticipation and your long-term happiness; and the value in asking your discussion or debate partner to explain the other side as well as they can (steelmanning).
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 451 welcomes back Shepard the Voluntaryist to chat with Skyler on the following topics: sitting on the sideline during political uncertainty; trying on different colored glasses to see the world more clearly; JP Sears success and using comedy to fight the state; Washington DC redneck hooliganism; the outpouring of propaganda through 2020 and 2021; uncontrolled kids becoming uncontrollable adults and untraumatized kids becoming peaceful adults; making peace with going to prison for frivolous and arbitrary reasons; defending yourself with surety bonds, challenging jurisdiction, petroleum jelly, or whatever you can to stop their attack on your peaceful behavior; making the most of being a prisoner, recognizing your sphere of control; dealing with prisoner politics in various ways; the perseverance of the 1st and 2nd Amendments, or rather, the perseverance of the American cultural commitment to free speech, free religion, peaceable assembly, and bearing arms; and more.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 450 welcomes back Jim Carigan to chat with Skyler on the following topics: surviving 2020 in Kentucky; living is learning; facial hair; memorable years in his life comparable to 2020; his Yankee mom and Dixiecrat dad; comparing mask mandates to the Vietnam War draft; recent attention on Federal spending; long term view of the effects of money inflation; 80% of humanity are meat puppets, 80% of the remaining have screwed themselves up, and the remaining 4% of humanity are "with it", and even they disagree among themselves about good and evil; television show recommendations: PBS's "Line of Separation", HBO's "Chernobyl", Netflix's "The Crown", and Prime Video's "The Expanse"; and more.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 054 looks at two Stoic topics: the first from Seneca who wrote, "Nothing can satisfy greed, but even a small measure satisfies nature. So it is that the poverty of an exile brings no misfortune, for no place of exile is so barren as not to produce ample support for a person."; and the second from r/Stoicism, a post by Ok_Intern_4405, which started, "I'm in my late twenties and I feel I am constantly pressuring myself to make good use of time, whether it is a conscious decision or not. I imagine a number of you could relate. Maybe it's the rat race that has gotten into me, I'm not sure. But looking at the success of my peers, I can't help but feel the need to not waste any second of my life."
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features an audio essay written by economics professor and Austro-libertarian Walter Block from 1976, and which comprises Chapter 2 of Defending the Undefendable.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 449 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following entries to r/unpopularopinion: his own commentary on the January 6th events in Washington DC; GNU_Yorker writes, "Good people still outnumber bad people by a monstrous amount"; CainKilledAbleton writes, "Listening to radio when driving is better than music streaming"; and flammmes writes, "Cars should have speed limiters that communicate with GPS signal to update the limiter according to the road's limit."
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 448 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following entries to r/shitstatistssay: @NathanHRubin writes, "Millennials don't hear socialism & think about the USSR or the Cold War... we think about Canada, Switzerland..."; PixPls writes, "It's time that teachers stood up to their states and just said 'No'. And while they are at it, a 20% raise is in order."; Wordsmifff2991 writes, "The biggest cause of poverty is greed... Yes Jeff Bezos I'm talking to you."; and NeonDepression writes, "There wouldn't be any value without labor period. The worker HAS to create it for there to be any wealth whatsoever. Property inherently is theft... There is no such thing as a free market when people are forced to work in order to live. Thats called coercion."
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 447 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from IndianExpress.com, "Avian flu confirmed: 1,800 migratory birds found dead in Himachal"; from PinkNews.co.uk, "Two trans women win election in historic moment for LGBT+ visibility in India" (Wikipedia.org, "LGBT themes in Hindu mythology"); from reddit.com, "Brexit a product of ‘lies and false promises’, Macron says in New Year’s message"; from JakartaGlobe.id, "Child Predators to be Chemically Castrated Under New Regulation"; and from TheGuardian.com, "Pope condemns travelling abroad to escape coronavirus lockdowns" (YouTube / Ivor Cummins, "Crucial Viral Update Jan 4th - Europe and USA - Covers it ALL").
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 053 looks at the Zero-Sum Fallacy and the Balancing Force of the Universe, or Gambler's Fallacy, cognitive bias.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features an interview of Chinese expatriate Li Zhao from 2019 by Matt Kibbe, host of Kibbe on Liberty. She talks about her experiences growing up under the communist regime of Chairman Mao Zedong. Between her grisly stories of starvation and totalitarianism, she explains why it’s so important to continue fighting for worldwide freedom, and to resist the allure of democratic socialism today.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 446 has Skyler giving his commentary on a quote by Bertrand Russell on the idea that some questions and opinions aren't open to discussion; by Thomas Jefferson on disobeying unjust laws; by Francis Mahaffy on the concept of "social justice" and the damage it does to justice; and by Mahatma Gandhi on the inhumanity that is the use of coercion.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 445 welcomes Anderson Silver to the podcast to chat with Skyler on the following topics: the French language in Canada; the cultural diversity of Montreal; his journey to self-reeducation; publishing 3 books on Stoicism; how Stoicism saved his life; our physical needs versus our mental and spiritual needs; how we each have a spirit, or soul; Stoicism and parenting; the prevalence of unidentified philosophy, or people learning and choosing the wiser course of action; human capacity for good and evil; striving toward clarity in dire situations; emotions make for bad advisors; Vulcanism versus Stoicism and Virtue Ethics; Stoic insight on New Year's resolutions; and more.
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). This episode features a talk by Canadian physician and addiction expert Gabor Mate from 2009. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, compulsive work habits, sexual seeking or spending: what is amiss with our lives that we seek such destructive ways to comfort ourselves? And why is it so difficult to stop these habits, even as they threaten our health, jeopardize our relationships and corrode our spirits?
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 052 looks at maximizing your time by multitasking and batching; saving money in the long run by paying a little extra for higher quality goods; paying down debt by rounding off your cash accounts every night; and the best way to cut through cold or frozen butter (it's really a no-brainer).
Post by Skyler J. Collins (Editor). Episode 444 welcomes back Alex R. Knight III to chat with Skyler on the following topics: teaching social studies, English, and Spanish at a private sports academy; teaching future Olympic medalists in winter sports; why his social studies curriculum probably wouldn't fly in public schools; the Tuttle Twins (and ATKE.org); "Great Myths of the Great Depression" by Lawrence Reed; the level of propaganda around COVID-19; why government parasites are always short-term thinkers; the fact that most people simply don't care, and why should they?; the Voluntaryist vs. the Stoic in each of us; finding liberty in physical, entrepreneurial, and technological frontiers; finding helpfulness and community in relatively freer rural areas; his lamentations on a Biden presidency instead of 4 more years of Donald Trump; and more.
The LAVA Flow | Libertarian | Anarcho-capitalist | Voluntaryist | Agorist
Skyler J. Collins had the temerity to have me on his podcast, Everything Voluntary. What happens when two radically unschooling, peaceful parenting, voluntaryist podcasters get together for a chat? This is episode fifty-three of The LAVA Spurt, Rodger on Everything Voluntary.