Science

Arthur C. Clarke vs. Economics and Capitalism

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché March 30, 2011

A few years ago in honor of Arthur C. Clarke’s then-recent birthday, I wrote on my own blog that he must never have read Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, because according to this quote cited by Gregory Benford in his happy-birthday letter in Locus Magazine (January 2008), he claims that “there are some general [...]

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Our Dystopian Future: Biodiesel

by Robert Wicks February 1, 2011

Recently, I was listening to the BrainStuff podcast, which I highly recommend, and Marshall Brain, the host and founder of Howstuffworks.com covers the possibility of bacteria or algae being used to create fuel, eliminating our need for fossil fuels. This is quite fascinating, and listeners speculated that the oil companies might simply kill such technologies. [...]

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Introducing Prometheus Unbound

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché November 25, 2010

Last week I launched a new website called Prometheus Unbound.  I aim for it to be a sort of online “magazine,” a libertarian review of fiction and literature. The site will feature reviews, news commentary, articles and editorials, and eventually (I hope) interviews, from a libertarian perspective. I’m entertaining the possibility of publishing original fiction [...]

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Intellectual Thievery

by Manuel Lora July 26, 2010

Statism + legislation = destruction and unintended consequences: … Jon “Maddog” Hall wanted to try to preserve some deteriorating piano rolls, but discovered (much to his annoyance) that copyright may be getting in the way. He points out that many old player piano rolls are deteriorating, and the small group of remaining collectors are hoping [...]

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American vs. British Science Fiction

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché May 1, 2010

Are there any major differences between American and British science fiction (SF)? If so, what are they and what is the reason for them? What the heck does this have to do with libertarianism?

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Gene Patent Absurdity

by Stephan Kinsella April 13, 2010

Those without any sound principles about rights and economics are totally confounded by the issue of gene patents. The author of “The absurdity of patenting genes,” in The Guardian, for example, first observes, “Patents are a sensible idea, because people are more likely to invest in innovation …”. But on the other hand, “patents also [...]

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The Perils of Giving Presidents Credit

by Jacob Huebert April 13, 2010

Co-blogger Ryan McMaken is quite right to give President Obama credit for cutting the space program. Sadly, however, it looks like Obama is already backing down on those cuts. No surprise there. If Obama thinks it’s okay to spend trillions on everything else, how can he justify cutting this? It’s not like budget constraints have [...]

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