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Book Review: How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Overall, very much enjoyed this book. Loved the imagery that enables visualization of Marcus and the narrative that buttresses the cognitive behavioral techniques found within Stoic literature.

If you have read Meditations, then the quotes Marcus wrote down may seem out of context from his life or the things going on in it at the […]

Notes: Copyright

I once participated in a debate about copyright issues, taking the position that copyright is an illegitimate concept. I prepared the following notes prior to the debate.

Opening Points Historically founded on governmental systems of control Enforcement requires the interference in an otherwise free market Utilitarian arguments supporting copyright need to meet a burden of […]

Notes: The Social Contract

These are my notes from reading Rousseau’s The Social Contract for a libertarian book club meeting.

============================== Book 1. ——————————

Preamble. :quote: Born as I was, the citizen of a free state and member of its sovereign body, the very right to vote imposes on me the duty to instruct myself in public affairs, however […]

Personal Freedom

I’ve been dissatisfied with Ron Paul’s loss of the Republican Party ticket. I was hoping that this election cycle would finally be determined by the enthusiastic minority of libertarians. I was hoping that it would be the nomination which proved the internet is stronger than the mass media. Alas, I shall have to wait some […]

Bayesian Anthropic Law

This one has been on my plate for a long time. There is a popular argument for the existence of God/Creator known as the “Fine-Tuning Argument”. When looking at the universe, we notice that it has a specific construction which supports carbon-based life-forms such as ourselves. For example, physicist Paul Davies [1993. The Accidental Universe, […]

Meaningless is Meaningful

Today I had a long and philosophical discussion with one of my friends. He started the conversation with a baited question: “Have you ever met a Solipsist?”. How could I avoid that one? Of course the conversation delved into the nature of the solipsistic belief system, and because I do not subscribe to that system […]

Minds from Agents

Recently, I came across this SEED article, Divide Midns, Specious Souls; which has this deliciously anti-religious, pro-science quote:

Within the wide range of works arranged along the axis of soulism, from Life After Death: The Evidence, by Dinesh D’Souza, to Absence of Mind, by Marilynne Robinson, it is clear there is very little understanding […]

Deconversion

Ordinarily I wouldn’t post up a bunch of stuff that I encountered on YouTube, but this collection of one persons account of his deconversion from Christianity to Atheism is so thoughtfully considered and carefully presented that I was absolutely captivated, and would like to share it.

The concept of God is, for most believers, […]

Intellectual Land Grab

The Libertarian think tank CATO recently published a small, trite piece that attempts to establish The Case against Literary (and Software) Patents. Being a Libertarian, I actually agree with the position; I just don’t think that this article fully explored the issue. Here, I seek to provide some links to more fundamental content.

It begins […]

Philosophy of Computer Science: Naming

For a very long time, western culture has had a strong undercurrent about naming. Conceptually, it starts with the recognition that the ability to name a thing gives you power over it. This is reflected in many deep and ancient cultural mythologies.

The creation story in the Bible begins with:

In the beginning,…the earth […]