Ep. 309 Gene Callahan on the Failure of Liberal Neutrality
Gene Callahan teaches computer science at NYU and is the author of Economics for Real People. He joins Bob to discuss the inner contradictions of liberal neutrality. They also discuss AI and whether computers can really learn.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The YouTube version of this interview.
- The crazy fact about colliding blocks and pi.
- Gene Callahan’s author page at Amazon.
- Gene’s blog post on Euler’s identity.
- Previous BMS episodes featuring Keith Knight on progressives’ domestic imperialism, the Logos, the Satanic monument, and Bob’s rediscovery of Molinism.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
+1 for pointing out the hypocrisy of “liberal democracies” but -1 for asserting ancap societies face the same problems. If a judge in ancap gives absurd opinions then I will simply stop being his customer. His opinions are not BINDING on anyone the way they are in statist societies.
And if you ask “but will women be allowed to walk around topless in public or not?” Then I will reply “walk around in *where*?”
I don’t know if I’m convinced that there is no public property in Ancapistan. Roderick Long uses an example of a footpath down to a river bank that locals use for fishing. The footpath is an improvement to the land that is not a product of any one individual. It’s not clear that someone can come along and claim that it’s theirs now and fence off the path. They would at the very least have to permit the community to continue to use it. You could imagine applying similar logic to virtually all roads that were formerly blazed by foot or cattle or wagon.
And at that point judges would have to argue over what rights the community has. If nudists used to strip at their cars, so they could store their clothes, and then walk the path naked, are they still permitted to? Are only those individuals grandfathered in or is it a universal right for members of the community?
Much more compelling and intelligent than Owen Benjamin for sure.
He make very relevant comments on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning. I am an intermediate in the field. Most people make too much of it. They act like machines have consciousness with no real evidence.
The digits of pi falling out of the bouncy blocks algo is really breaking my brain. It’s almost like the plot of Carl Sagan’s novel, Contact.
Circles everywhere, you say? Wild man. Cool simulation. Big fan. Hope I get to play it again.