Letters to the Editor
from The Editor, Russell D. Longcore, L. Neil Smith, Rob Gillespie,
Paul Bonneau, A.X. Perez, Bo Fredricsson, Rex May, and Crazy Al
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Who Owns The Future?
by L. Neil Smith
Thanks to the botched-up mess of positively Obamaic proportions
that forced digitization has made of broadcast television, the Smiths have been
turning more and more for entertainment to our computers and the Internet. We found
HULU and enjoy it very much. We've discovered new programs like Warehouse 13,
Eureka, and Sanctuary, and have even begun watching certain broadcast
favorites like Fringe the same way. There's also a fair amount of history
and science to be found there.
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The Economics of Star Trek
or
What is Good for Business?
by Dmitry Chernikov
In one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Captain Sisko
describes Earth as "paradise." It is a paradise in which there is no such thing as
money, and people don't get paid for doing things. In the same episode we see Sisko's
father's restaurant, but the workings of his business remain mysterious. The problem
is that without the price system and money serving as a unit of account it is
impossible to rationally allocate resources and capital goods in particular to
their most valued uses. The difficulty lies in the fact that the price system is
an emergent property of the market, arising as a result of entrepreneurial
competition for capital, though, of course, there is nothing magical to it: we can
clearly identify the source from which that property emerges, viz.,
the recognition by the individual members of society of the benefits of social
cooperation and division of labor, and can even trace its evolution from a tiny
two or three-person market to one in which social cooperation has become worldwide.
As Joseph Salerno writes:
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A SF story I wish someone would write
by C. Florence
Here is a science fiction short story that I wish somebody
would write: Anne meets Ayn—Libertarian Vampires Eat Politicians and Colonize
Mars. Except it needs a deliberately opaque and unhelpful title, and cover art
that doesn't give the plot away.
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The Brontosaurus in the Broom Closet
by L. Neil Smith
Dear Newt—It says here somewhere (I can't find it, now
that I need it) that you believe the Republicans can take the House back in
2010, and that you're thinking of resurrecting the famous GOP "Contract with
America" which you assert was pivotal in the Congressional "revolution" of 1994.
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"Personal Declaration of Independence" or the Covenant of Unanimous Consent?
by Dennis Lee Wilson
In last week's Libertarian Enterprise, C. Jeffery
Small, at the end of his article titled "Mandatory National Service", urged
readers to embrace a "Personal Declaration of Independence" which, judging
by its title, is well intended[1], but actually contains a mixture of Galt's
Oath and a mistaken understanding of the U.S. Constitution.
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What Would A Truly Free Nation Look Like?
by Russell D. Longcore
One day soon, the United States Federal government is likely
to collapse. The cause will probably be that the rest of the nations of the world
will reject the dollar as the world's reserve currency, and adopt another
currency, or a basket of currencies, as their new reserve. This currency move
is not just a rumor, but is already happening on a small scale. Once the nations
of the world have cast aside the dollar, its value will freefall against all
other world currencies.
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The Goddess of Vengeance and Murder
by Bob Wallace
I pay more attention to myths than anything else. I don't
pay attention to 99% of the Ph.D.s from Harvard and Yale and Princeton, all of
which will someday disappear, the sooner the better. Those are the kinds of the
"Best and Brightest" who got us into Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. One
of the most perceptive of old myths is the Greek one of Hubris followed by
Nemesis. The full sequence is Koros to Hubris to Ate to Nemesis.
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Next Nobel Laureate: Jack Kevorkian?
by David F. Nolan
By awarding its once-coveted Peace Prize to Barack Obama,
the Nobel Prize committee has revealed its own intellectual bankruptcy.
Supposedly, this award is intended to recognize people who have contributed
significantly to world peace, either for one spectacular achievement or a
lifetime of continuing contributions to that cause. Obama does not qualify
by either measure; he is a Chicago pol who got lucky, and today occupies
the White House mostly because of revulsion at his immediate predecessor.
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Christmas in Cuneiform
by L. Neil Smith
This afternoon I got a message from an individual who
frequently sends me interesting, thought-provoking material. In this one,
he was making a complaint one often hears from conservatives whenever their
notion that this is a "Christian country" is challenged, usually by liberals.
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Atlantea The Beautiful
by L. Neil Smith and Rex May
Number 46 of a weekly cartoon series.
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Agenda 21: The United Nations Programme of Action
Planning for Your future, serf!
