I believe in natural health, not in natural medicine. At any instant in evolutionary time, an organism is partially optimized to thrive in a certain milieu. Changes to that milieu can be very detrimental to the organism. Thus, the burden of proof falls on he who proposes that a change to the milieu is not detrimental, e.g. smoking cigarettes, eating cheesecake, drinking aspartame and sitting in a cushioned chair all day. This is not to be confused with the Naturalistic Fallacy. Not everything natural is healthy, and cures for diseases or trauma can only be expected to occur in nature under extremely unlikely circumstances. Likewise, one should be wary of any practitioner who pretends to know with certainly the diets of those who died 100,000 years hence.This should not be construed as medical advice. As always, consult a physician before reading anything.
A Synthesis of My Thoughts on Human Health and Alternative Medicine
I have been a whimsical child, and I have been an ardent Skeptic. I have read about every diet from Ornish to Paleo to the Blood Type Diet. I know Chiropractors and Naturopaths, and I make my living researching with Neurosurgeons. The only statement I feel comfortable saying to them all as it pertains to my position on health is this:
My Favorite Justification for Socialism
I've encountered a new justification for a given socialist program (Any of them. It doesn't matter. They are all the same). It goes like this:
"Humans are social animals! We should have social programs!"
So humans are social creatures, therefore we must force them to be social?! You can always count on Utopians of all parties missing the gun in the room.
"Humans are social animals! We should have social programs!"
So humans are social creatures, therefore we must force them to be social?! You can always count on Utopians of all parties missing the gun in the room.
Women in STEM
I'm going to come right out and say it: I don't care how many women or young girls become interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. I don't care for the same reason I don't care how many men go into STEM or how many women become NFL head coaches.
All I care about, and what I think reasonable people everywhere should be working on, is ensuring that the young people in our lives are exposed to as many educational opportunities as possible during there formative years. I hope that every child has an opportunity to do some real work, to see how businesses run and how things are actually made before they make major decisions about how they are going to live their adult lives. I don't want anyone to be discouraged from going into STEM fields, or medicine, or the law. My wish for everyone is to find their passion and pursue it, which is antithetical in many ways to the classroom/factory model of schooling.
All I care about, and what I think reasonable people everywhere should be working on, is ensuring that the young people in our lives are exposed to as many educational opportunities as possible during there formative years. I hope that every child has an opportunity to do some real work, to see how businesses run and how things are actually made before they make major decisions about how they are going to live their adult lives. I don't want anyone to be discouraged from going into STEM fields, or medicine, or the law. My wish for everyone is to find their passion and pursue it, which is antithetical in many ways to the classroom/factory model of schooling.
A Cascade of Failures
I saw the title of this report cited in Reason Magazine, "A Cascade of Failures: Why Government Fails, and How to Stop It." To me, the meaning of this sentence is wonderfully ambiguous. Most square pro-government types may be inclined to assume that the intention of the report is to provide guidance on how to stop government failures. I prefer to assume that it is aimed at stopping government, period.
Rock the Vote Boat
I thought about going out to vote today. Then I realized that there wouldn't be a "No Thanks, I don't want any government" option, so I stayed home.
More Things That Annoy Me
I am not really sure why, but when people use the phrase "speak to" in place of "discuss" or "elaborate on" it really bothers me. I know there are cases when it is the most applicable phrase, but seriously, it drives me crazy.
I also am not a fan of the term "effect change." I understand that logically it makes sense, but it still bugs the crap out of me. I can also not accept someone being labeled an "agent of change."
I also am not a fan of the term "effect change." I understand that logically it makes sense, but it still bugs the crap out of me. I can also not accept someone being labeled an "agent of change."
Libertarianism Really Is All About Me
I hear people all the time attack libertarianism as being "all about me", or some variant thereof. We try to defend ourselves by saying that it isn't so, but you know what? They are right.
Libertarianism really is all about me. It starts with me and ends with everyone else. It begins with my recognition that I am not special. The universe owes me nothing, and if I expect to get something, I realize that I am going to have to work for it. I understand that it is not right for me to commit acts of aggression against others in order to get what I want. I can simply see no justification for it. I look around and see no distinguishing characteristics of any individual I have ever met that should give them the special right to initiate the use of force against me. Likewise, no group of 5 or 10 or 10 million such individuals has that special right either.
I recognize that I have no right to initiate the use of force against others. Everything else flows from there.
Libertarianism really is all about me. It starts with me and ends with everyone else. It begins with my recognition that I am not special. The universe owes me nothing, and if I expect to get something, I realize that I am going to have to work for it. I understand that it is not right for me to commit acts of aggression against others in order to get what I want. I can simply see no justification for it. I look around and see no distinguishing characteristics of any individual I have ever met that should give them the special right to initiate the use of force against me. Likewise, no group of 5 or 10 or 10 million such individuals has that special right either.
I recognize that I have no right to initiate the use of force against others. Everything else flows from there.
Happy Independence Day - Part II
As I was walking up the stairs from my shower, my towel fell off. I said to my wife, "this is how I celebrate my independence." But then I realized that the 4th of July isn't celebrated for my independence, it is celebrated for our independence. Is the contradiction of celebrating the independence of a collective lost on everyone else?
Happy Independence Day!
As a libertarian I am rarely more conflicted than I am on the 4th of July. On the one hand, I support nothing more than the overthrow of tyrannical regimes. On the other, I despise nothing more than the nationalistic worship of the State. Today I am in a good mood, so I am going to focus on the former. I am hoping you do the same!
Dr. Thomas Stossel on Medical Conflict of Interest Mania
Dr. Thomas Stossel (yes, John's brother) recently spoke with Reason on a topic that is near and dear to my heart, medical conflict of interest. He may be the first person I have ever heard speak rationally about the subject, and I highly recommend that you check it out. Among medical professionals, the official party line is always that conflict of interest is a huge problem caused by an unruly class of doctors who are only out to make money getting in bed with evil, profit-making corporations who would just as soon poison their patients as show any sort of compassion. His level-headed presentation gives me back a little bit of hope for the industry.
What Will Mankind's Greatest Advancement Be?
It seems fairly obvious to me that the single greatest advancement mankind could make is the eradication of the religious notion that government can and should solve all of the world's problems. All one must advocate in order to achieve this is the simple explanation of the so commonly misunderstood concept of "rights." So much of the world is concerned that the government must protect their right to eat in certain restaurants without being exposed to cigarette smoke, nicotine-laced water vapor or trans-fats. They say that the government must enforce these "rights", neglecting their true nature and what must be done to their neighbor in order to make it so. I implore everyone to always remember that rights are those things to be respected by others, not provided by them.
Taxpayer Money
There is a phrase so common that it rarely raises an eyebrow just how ridiculous it is, "Taxpayer Money." You've all heard the hyperbolic statements, "We aren't going to spend a dime of Taxpayer Money on (insert villainous project of the week here)." Everyone on both sides of the aisle wants to look out for the little guy by protecting that hard-earned Taxpayer Money for only their own pet projects.
Get real. If anyone actually honestly evaluated the term, they would feel compelled to give the taxpayers their money back! Could you imagine if McDonald's issued press releases saying that unscrupulous franchise owners were wasting "Burger Eaters' Money" on over priced peanut oil and salt? No, of course not! Because in the world of free exchange we don't have to resort to dishonest language to hide out deeds. I had money. McDonalds had hamburgers. Now I have a hamburger and they have what was formerly my money.
By State logic, Taxpayer Money money belongs to the State, so let's end the charade and come up with a more accurate term.
Get real. If anyone actually honestly evaluated the term, they would feel compelled to give the taxpayers their money back! Could you imagine if McDonald's issued press releases saying that unscrupulous franchise owners were wasting "Burger Eaters' Money" on over priced peanut oil and salt? No, of course not! Because in the world of free exchange we don't have to resort to dishonest language to hide out deeds. I had money. McDonalds had hamburgers. Now I have a hamburger and they have what was formerly my money.
By State logic, Taxpayer Money money belongs to the State, so let's end the charade and come up with a more accurate term.
The Grantification of Academic Writing
In my day job I read a good number of academic articles. They are written in specialty journals with audiences consisting of spine surgeons and researchers. Regardless of the narrow scope and intimate audience of the journals, the authors invariably feel compelled to fill the introduction of every article with the prevalence of back pain, its cost to society etc. Enough! We've got it. Move on to the interesting part. As the reader I'm not sitting on your grant committee, so I don't need to be sold on something I already know and am quite tired of reading slight variations on the theme of how much this topic costs "society."
Don't we need regulation?
I was taught,
through the lens of the Great Depression and the so-called progressive era,
that the nation learned the virtues of moderation and threw off the shackles of
the dangerous laissez-faire experiment with social programs and government
"regulation" of industry and markets.
I was taught that our "mixed" economy was a harmonious
compromise between greed and restraint.
I inferred that greed was powerful and functional; a little greed was
good but too much was dangerous. The
corollary of course is that a “reasonable” amount of profit is ok, even good,
but too much is bad, even evil. The
conclusion to this line of thinking is that “regulation” of industry is
necessary and justified, even if it is cumbersome and costly. What I have learned since about the
historical narratives told in any venue is that they do little more than to
demonstrate the preconceived notions of the narrator. I now see the story as fantasy and the
conclusions as false.
Regulation is neither morally justified nor necessary. Less fundamental but more obvious, it has a demonstrably poor track record of efficacy. The fact of human nature is that people trade. Some are honest, others are not and the rest of us play for either side at one time or another. The situation an individual is in greatly influences his/her propensity to dishonesty. The existence of systemic protections creates moral hazards resulting in ignorant consumers and unscrupulous marketeers. Responsibility in a broader field of things is shifted to the bureaucrat who has less incentive and less specific knowledge to make appropriate decisions in real time. Further, the conundrum arises, as immortalized by Dr. Seuss, “Who will watch the bee watcher?”
Regulation is neither morally justified nor necessary. Less fundamental but more obvious, it has a demonstrably poor track record of efficacy. The fact of human nature is that people trade. Some are honest, others are not and the rest of us play for either side at one time or another. The situation an individual is in greatly influences his/her propensity to dishonesty. The existence of systemic protections creates moral hazards resulting in ignorant consumers and unscrupulous marketeers. Responsibility in a broader field of things is shifted to the bureaucrat who has less incentive and less specific knowledge to make appropriate decisions in real time. Further, the conundrum arises, as immortalized by Dr. Seuss, “Who will watch the bee watcher?”
Government - A Means of Laundering Our Conscience
How many insist that the government must do something to help the poor but pay little attention to those of us who say it does a poor job of it? Are they bad, stupid, ignorant people? I like to think most of them are not. Rather, government is a short-cut -- an easy and insufficient answer to many difficult questions. So long as one advocates that the government steps in to help the poor, the sick, and the huddled masses, one is off the hook from actually doing or thinking of anything for themselves. In this way the government (whatever form it may take) is a convenient and insidious means of laundering our conscience when it comes to the matter of helping our fellow man.
Where Have I Been?
Loyal readers may have noticed that I have been absent lately, and by "lately" I mean for the past year. It is not because I have stopped being interested in writing, I simply haven't been prioritizing on it. I have been teaching myself Android app development, which has been a great deal of very frustrating, tedious fun. I have finally released by first app, GYMer, which is for tracking weight lifting progress (sets, weight, reps, rest time and all that Jazz). I'm very happy with the result, but I am far from done. I have dozens of tweaks and additional features in mind that I need to further vet and develop. Still I hope to have more free time to devote to writing now that the app is in the store.
Rand on Government
I used to be a pretty strong advocate of Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy, but there is one thing I still cannot wrap my head around. As far as I can remember, she based her political philosophy, rightly so, on an axiom of non-aggression -- no one should initiate the use of force against another. But how then did she arrive at her advocacy for a government with a monopolistic power to use physical force? What happens if someone refuses to participate in the government system? Are they to be forced?
Another Thing that Annoys Me
This is probably going to offend a lot of people at least a little bit, but I have to get it off my chest. I am really annoyed by people who say "Q1", "Q2", etc. when they are talking about quarters of the year. I may be alone, but I find it to be one of the most subtly annoying bits of corporate-speak imaginable.
An Original Affirmation
Is it my lot in life to wait patiently?
If I want to stay where I am, it will be. I do not want to stand by and
cower in the shadows of 'great men', hoping that someday a few rays
of sunshine will come my way. I want to bask in the sunlight of my
own creativity, my own foresight, and my own sweat. I will take both
risk and reward in that. I have been looking for my door into summer, hoping that it would be around the next corner, all the while not knowing that all I had to do was cut a hole in the wall.
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