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Capitalist Science

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Re: Capitalist Science

#81
post #79
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What you are saying is indeed a common conventional wisdom opinion taught in grade school. Thus, people who believe differently might do so because they've thought more about it than an 8-year-old. Perhaps they've looked into the history or the economics of the situation. Congratulations on that cheap blow suggesting there's something childish and immature about understanding history, government and law. > With or…

> You do realize that this means only the rich and powerful can defend their property, right? Nope, I don't realize that at all. It's a common objection made by people who don't understand how private legal systems work and have never looked into it. You'd know better if you had read the books I recommended above. There is no way to perfectly defend property - "utopia is not an option" - but you can raise the cost to…

> If you just want to read a SINGLE CHAPTER of MoF that most clearly addresses your concerns, it is quite short, it is titled "POLICE, COURTS, AND LAWS---ON THE MARKET",

I read it, and I admit, in my teens, I had a similar sort of wishful thinking about ideal societies, but it's ignoring a couple of issues.

Firstly, it's basically a kind of for-profit government. Will that ultimately be better? Look at how many companies screw their customers now, often without their customers noticing. Of course once customers notice, they can switch, _if_ there is sufficient competition. But companies love merging, and at some point, a powerful protection agency can dictate terms to smaller agencies. The largest agencies can form a cartel to concentrate and divide even more power. And sure, you can switch to a small, independent agency, but will they be able to protect you against the big guys? Maybe if enough people switch, but that takes time.

In the end, you're trying to play one protection racket against another protection racket, but in the end, you're still stuck with a protection racket.

Let's first try to get honest competition working in something fairly innocuous like telecommunication, before we start giving those companies real power, okay?

Re: Capitalist Science

#82
post #81
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You do realize that this means only the rich and powerful can defend their property, right? Nope, I don't realize that at all. It's a common objection made by people who don't understand how private legal systems work and have never looked into it. You'd know better if you had read the books I recommended above. There is no way to perfectly defend property - "utopia is not an option" - but you can raise the cost to…

> If you just want to read a SINGLE CHAPTER of MoF that most clearly addresses your concerns, it is quite short, it is titled "POLICE, COURTS, AND LAWS---ON THE MARKET", I read it, and I admit, in my teens, I had a similar sort of wishful thinking about ideal societies, but it's ignoring a couple of issues. Firstly, it's basically a kind of for-profit government. Will that ultimately be better? Look at how many compa…

Sadly, a single chapter doesn't make the whole argument - you do kind of need to read the whole book. But your immediate objection is covered in the immediately following chapter, called "The Stability Problem". That one doesn't seem to have been webbed as a single page, but you can go to the book pdf, search for "the stability problem" in the index and click the link to jump right there. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf

From the intro: > Anyone with a little imagination can dream up a radical new structure for society, anarcho-capitalist or otherwise. The question is, will it work? Most people, when they hear my description of anarcho-capitalism for the first time, immediately explain to me two or three reasons why it won't. Most of their arguments can be reduced to two: The system will be at the mercy of the mafia, which can establish its own 'protection agency' or take over existing ones and convert them into protection rackets. Or else the protection agencies will realize that theft is more profitable than business, get together, and become a government.

The text that follows explores and answers that objection, always keeping in mind that utopia is not an option - our existing system already is a cartel that screws its customers in many ways and is very hard to hold accountable for its actions. "perfect" isn't an option, but "better" might be achievable.

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