Kinsella On Liberty

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 051. This is a short, informal discussion with a good friend of mine, patent attorney Mark Gilbreth (email). A fairly a-libertarian and a-political type, we talked about some of the practical and political aspects of patent law practice. Mark is an experienced chemical engineer-specialized patent attorney (I am electrical). We met in 1998 when we both were adjunct professors at South Texas College of Law. We recorded this while walking to lunch from my house. Yes, there are traffic noises and leaf-blowers--the sounds of civilization.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 050. This is lecture 6 (of 6) of my 2011 Mises Academy course “Libertarian Controversies.” This course followed on my speech "Correcting some Common Libertarian Misconceptions," from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society (2011). That talk engendered a good deal of discussion and interest, but in the time allotted for a single speech I was able to cover only a small number of the topics I had assembled over the years. In the 6 week Mises Academy course, “Libertarian Controversies,” I covered these and related topics in greater depth. The course was planned for 5 weeks initially, but I added a sixth "bonus" lecture at student request.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 049. This is lecture 5 (of 6) of my 2011 Mises Academy course “Libertarian Controversies.” I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. This course followed on my speech "Correcting some Common Libertarian Misconceptions," from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society (2011). That talk engendered a good deal of discussion and interest, but in the time allotted for a single speech I was able to cover only a small number of the topics I had assembled over the years. In the 6 week Mises Academy course, “Libertarian Controversies,” I covered these and related topics in greater depth. The course was planned for 5 weeks initially, but I added a sixth "bonus" lecture at student request.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 048. This is lecture 4 (of 6) of my 2011 Mises Academy course “Libertarian Controversies.” I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. This course followed on my speech "Correcting some Common Libertarian Misconceptions," from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society (2011). That talk engendered a good deal of discussion and interest, but in the time allotted for a single speech I was able to cover only a small number of the topics I had assembled over the years. In the 6 week Mises Academy course, “Libertarian Controversies,” I covered these and related topics in greater depth. The course was planned for 5 weeks initially, but I added a sixth "bonus" lecture at student request.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 047. This is lecture 3 (of 6) of my 2011 Mises Academy course “Libertarian Controversies.”  This talk covered "Even More Misconceptions," such as state vs. government, "limited" government, Hoppe on monarchy vs. democracy, federalism, restitution and punishment, positive obligations, and other issues. Slides for this lecture are appended below. For background information, links to recommended reading, and audio and slides for all six lectures, see  KOL 045 | “Libertarian Controversies Lecture 1" (Mises Academy, 2011). The remaining lectures will be released here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. Update: The videos of all six lectures are now available here; the video for this particular lecture is embedded below.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 046. This is lecture 2 (of 6) of my 2011 Mises Academy course “Libertarian Controversies.” I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. This course followed on my speech "Correcting some Common Libertarian Misconceptions," from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society (2011). That talk engendered a good deal of discussion and interest, but in the time allotted for a single speech I was able to cover only a small number of the topics I had assembled over the years. In the 6 week Mises Academy course, “Libertarian Controversies,” I covered these and related topics in greater depth. The course was planned for 5 weeks initially, but I added a sixth "bonus" lecture at student request.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 045. This is lecture 1 (of 6) of my 2011 Mises Academy course “Libertarian Controversies.” I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days. This course followed on my speech "Correcting some Common Libertarian Misconceptions," from the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society (2011). That talk engendered a good deal of discussion and interest, but in the time allotted for a single speech I was able to cover only a small number of the topics I had assembled over the years. In the 6 week Mises Academy course, “Libertarian Controversies,” I covered these and related topics in greater depth. The course was planned for 5 weeks initially, but I added a sixth "bonus" lecture at student request.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 044. This is my speech "Correcting some Common Libertarian Misconceptions," delivered on May 28, 2011, at the Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society. The video is here, and streamed below; here is the powerpoint presentation. I elaborate on these issues in my six-lecture Mises Academy course, "Libertarian Controversies," to be added to the podcast stream next (see KOL episodes 045-050). Update: see also KOL185: Clarifying Libertarian Theory (Liberty.me, July 2014)   pfs-2011 Stephan Kinsella, Correcting Some Common Libertarian Misconceptions from Sean Gabb on Vimeo. [This speech was discussed previously on the Mises blog with extensive comments, and also on my blog] Update: Thanks to Joseph Fetz with help cleaning up the original audio file.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 043. This is my appearance on Michael Shanklin’s Triple-V: Voluntary Virtues Vodcast with Michael Shanklin (April 25, 2013). We discussed a variety of issues, including: Bitcoin, the police state, the morality of voting, Rothbard on copyright , the history of patent and copyright, and other issues.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 042. This is a reading of my  paper "Estoppel: A New Justification for Individual Rights," which was published in Reason Papers No. 17 (Fall 1992). It was narrated by Carlos Morales on the Renegade Variety Hour podcast (April 18, 2013). This was the first of my libertarian theory works and a precursor to other articles such as "Punishment and Proportionality: The Estoppel Approach," Journal of Libertarian Studies 12:1 (Spring 1996),  "New Rationalist Directions in Libertarian Rights Theory," Journal of Libertarian Studies 12:2  (Fall 1996), and “Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide,” Mises Daily (May 27, 2011) (the latter of which includes “Discourse Ethics and Liberty: A Skeletal Ebook”).

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 041. This is from Episode 367 of the Bad Quaker podcast, with Ben Stone.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 040. [Update: KOL186: Great IP Debate with Baker-Kinsella] This is a discussion about IP with a fellow Austro-anarchist libertarian, Alexander Baker, who initially accepted the anti-IP argument I and others have made, but who has since moved to a type of pro-IP position. We had a few email discussions in recent months about this, but I was unable to persuade him that his approach was misguided. We decided to have a (friendly) discussion about it. Baker calls his theory "intellectual space" and has a new blog devoted to this "libertarian theory of intangible property"; he sketches his position in his post Intro to Intellectual Space. We had a very interesting, civil discussion, which is rare for discussions with IP advocates (see, e.g., KOL 038 | Debate with Robert Wenzel on Intellectual Property). Baker was honest and forthright, willing to admit what he is not yet sure about; he admitted his own bias for IP given that his career (as a musical composer) depends in part on IP protection. He admitted the burden of proof is on IP advocates, and I believe he would not disagree with me that many advocates over the years have offered weak arguments. I don't agree with Baker, in the end. His argument seems to me to be based on analogies: an idea or recipe can play a role in production "similar" to how scarce means can, and thus can be exploited, owned, etc. However, he came across to me as sincere and searching for truth, which I can appreciate. Listen and judge for yourself. Update: Here is a previous discussion on this topic between Baker and Stefan Molyneux:  

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 039. I was a guest recently on the Renegade Variety Hour (discussing intellectual property and other issues), with hosts Carlos Morales and Taryn Harris (recorded April 5, 2013, podcast April 10, 2013). I met them at the recent Liberty in the Pines conference and was happy to talk with them.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 038. Blogger Robert Wenzel and I had a "debate" earlier today about IP, to be jointly put up on my podcast and his Economic Policy Journal "podcast" (it's on his site at Kinsella Crushed!! and Initial Report on Debate, and mentioned ahead of time several times as linked below). Bob is an Austrian libertarian (I think) blogger but has been criticizing me and Jeff Tucker's anti-IP views for a few years now (see links below), so we decided to discuss it. The discussion went on for over 2 hours. It went about as I expected: he tried to dwell on side points, he refused to—was unable to—even attempt to define IP much less provide a coherent justification for it. He repeatedly engaged in question-begging: calling using information you learn from others "stealing," which presupposes that there is some owned thing that is stolen. He started out with several bizarre, off-point attacks: for example challenging my claim in my 2001 piece Against Intellectual Property that Rothbard was one of the original libertarian opponents of IP. The entire criticism by Wenzel is bizarre because whether or not I am right in listing Rothbard as an opponent of patent and copyright has nothing to do with whether IP is justified. ... Listen if you dare; I cannot promise it will be enjoyable; and I apologize in advance for at times being unable to take Wenzel's unfounded bluster and bravado and sputtering attempt at arguments seriously, and sometimes myself resorting to sarcasm, mockery, condescension, and coarse language (all accurate and well-deserved). In short: Wenzel embarrassed himself but as expected is saying he "crushed" me—all the while seemingly oblivious to the fact that he did not even attempt to argue for IP must less define it or establish that it is justified or compatible with libertarian property principles.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 037. [Transcript.] I spoke last weekend at one of the best events I've ever been part of: the "Liberty in the Pines" (facebook event) conference at Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches, Texas. Sponsored by the Young Americans for Liberty chapter and the Charles Koch Foundation, this one-day event brought together liberty-lovers of all stripes from surrounding areas. My speech was "Locke’s Big Mistake: How the Labor Theory of Property Ruined Political Theory."  Stefan Molyneux and Jeff Tucker appeared and delivered speeches as well (with Jeff's inspiring keynote resulting in a resounding standing ovation). Walter Block conducted an "Ask a Libertarian" Q&A session (remotely), and relative newcomer Jessica Hughes delivered a surprisingly radical and resounding speech on "The Constitution of Faux Authority." [Update: See Liberty in the Pines Roundup.] This podcast episode includes my speech and Q&A (about 54 minutes) plus the panel Q&A (about another 50 minutes). The panel Q&A touched on issues like peaceful parenting, spanking, and so on. Not to toot my own horn, but I know I have a lot of a/v material out there, so I do believe this speech of mine is one of the most important I've ever done. Update: See Stephen Decker's report on the event. For some background on some of the issues I discussed, see: Hume on Intellectual Property and the Problematic “Labor” Metaphor Locke on IP; Mises, Rothbard, and Rand on Creation, Production, and "Rearranging" "Locke, Smith, Marx and the Labor Theory of Value," Mises Economics Blog (June 23, 2010) (archived comments) “What Libertarianism Is” “How We Come To Own Ourselves" "Montessori, Peace, and Libertarianism" John Bremer, “Education as Peace” Update: The YouTube at the bottom had inferior audio to the podcast version that I recorded using the iPhone in my pocket. The YouTube immediately below incorporates the superior audio track (thanks to Manuel Lora). Original YouTube, with inferior audio: