[ExI] state of conflict technology

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Jan 8, 2020, at 9:28 PM, spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of
> Keith Henson via extropy-chat
> Sent: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 7:52 PM
> To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> Cc: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [ExI] state of conflict technology
> 
> <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
> 
> snip
> 
>> I am AGIN it, I tells ya!  All of it, all forms of dope, everything, AGIN
> it!  Bad medicine it is.  Poison.  Toxic to mind, body and spirit.
> 
> That's rather inconsistent with libertarianism.
> 
> Keith
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> 
> On the contrary sir.  I didn't say anything about law, or prohibiting anyone
> from these things.  I unapologetically state my suggestion to leave it all
> alone.  
> 
> I know there are those who have success with various things, but I also have
> lived long enough to know plenty who do not, plenty who have wrecked lives.
> I went to my 30th high school reunion, I noted who had passed on.  We all
> knew who was the doper crowd back in the day, and who was not.  I could find
> enough representatives of each group to get a statistically significant
> result by comparing the groups.  In general, the non-dopers do better.
> 
> This is perfectly compatible with libertarianism, which recognizes that
> prohibition is a failure.

The libertarian case against prohibition is not about whether prohibition doesn’t work — as in reduce use of what’s prohibited — but about the freedom to use, possess, manufacture, and trade in prohibited substances. In other words, it’s about freedom rather than about policy failure.

That said, yes, libertarians can use so called policy failure arguments (as they do againsr zoning laws, tariffs, sex work laws, etc.), but these are not really libertarian argument, but simply appealing to non-libertarians who won’t be persuaded by appeals to freedom and justice. (Which isn’t to say such arguments are wrong or invalid, but just that they are not derived from libertarianism as such.)

Regards,

Dan
   Sample my Kindle books at:
http://author.to/DanUst
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