Ash Heap Of History

The Compulsion To Rule

"A system that insists on controlling others through increasing levels of systematic violence; that loots the many for the aggrandizement of the few; that regulates any expressions of human behavior that are not of service to the rulers; that presumes the power to wage wars against any nation of its choosing, a principle that got a number of men hanged at the Nuremberg trials; and finally, criminalizes those who would speak the truth to its victims, has no moral energy remaining with which to sustain itself. The treatment accorded private Manning may have been the final nail driven into the coffin of the American state." Continue reading →

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The Tipping Point

"Jesus said that when a garment gets so old, attempting to patch it with new cloth will just tear it up worse. The authoritarian state seems to be reaching that point, beyond which any attempt to patch it up or prolong its life just hastens its demise. The interesting thing about the federal prosecutions of Aaron Swartz and Chelsea Manning is that the vindictive approach to piling up charges and seeking maximum sentences were calculated attempts to send a message to anyone else contemplating sabotage against the information control regime. But those attempts have done more to inspire sympathy among the uncommitted and galvanize the information freedom movement than to terrify would-be leakers." Continue reading →

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How to (Inadvertently) Argue Against the Public Education System

"The idea that everyone should voluntarily herd themselves into the same crappy authoritarian institution, so that all will have some incentive to make that institution somewhat better, is utterly perverse. The beauty of networked communications technology [..] is that it’s no longer necessary to get everybody on the same page, and coordinate their efforts through some common institution, in order for anyone to do anything. The public schools are built on a mass-production industrial model of moving humans to a central location to be processed with a limited, uniform menu of information. But a near-infinite amount of education can now be moved around instantly at almost zero cost." Continue reading →

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Present Shock and the Fantasy of Change

"Millennials (born 1982-2004) are pursuing high-cost university educations in the belief that multiple degrees are now essential to being offered a job. Even as evidence piles up that the economy has changed in fundamental ways such that even advanced degrees no longer inoculate the owner against financial insecurity, millions of young people feel they have no choice but to indebt themselves and spend scarce family resources on a questionable-value education. The underlying assumption here is the present will endure, and change will be marginal. The idea that the narrative of history suggests major disruptions of the status quo are cyclical and thus inevitable doesn't register." Continue reading →

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What Will Software Eat Next?

"Just look at the industries that software-driven companies have taken over in last decade: In publishing, Amazon and its Kindle destroyed Borders and flipped the industry's financials on their heads; In movies and music, Netflix and Apple's iTunes displaced Blockbuster and Best Buy, not to mention the local record shop and the CD and DVD themselves; In photography, Shutterfly and Snapfish supplanted Kodak, only to be handed their own walking papers by Facebook and Instagram. Software stands at the threshold of even more explosive growth as it will continue to reshape entire industries. The million-dollar question is: What's next? There are several industries that are on high alert." Continue reading →

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Hayek to Satoshi and Beyond

"In Denationalisation, Hayek wrote that if anything resembling his vision were to come about, it would probably happen in a way he had no chance of accurately predicting-and on that count, he was definitely right. We, however, may be in similar position to the one he occupied some thirty seven years ago. If Bitcoin succeeds, it will completely alter the way human beings relate to the creation and management of money; the future that’s set to unfold over the next three and half decades is probably even more opaque to us than our present day was to F.A. Hayek." Continue reading →

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Missouri Democrat busted for marijuana possession

"A Missouri Democrat was arrested on Sunday after police officers discovered marijuana and drug paraphernalia in his car. State Rep. Jeremy LaFaver (D-Kansas City) was pulled over by police for failing to respond to a previous charge that he had driven with an expired license tag and without insurance. The lawmaker was booked into the Boone County jail and released after posting bond. The Missouri Republican Party has called on LaFaver to resign, citing his 'open disrespect for the law.' But he told local media networks that he has no plans to quit. Unlike other lawmakers arrested for marijuana, LaFaver supported legislation that would have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana." Continue reading →

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Barnes & Noble Slides Toward Bankruptcy

"You may remember You’ve Got Mail (1998). It was a movie about a small bookstore that could not compete with a huge bookstore that was modeled after Barnes & Noble. Technology and capital wiped out the local bookstore. Now Amazon is wiping out Barnes & Noble. Same story: capital and technology. The free market benefits customers. Barnes & Noble is a dinosaur. It looked unstoppable to Hollywood 15 years ago. But the World Wide Web has brought it down. It will not recover. Its Nook reader is a bust. People prefer Kindle. My time is valuable. I don’t like driving. One click is all it takes to get me what I want." Continue reading →

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Is Your College Going Broke? The Most And Least Financially Fit Schools In America

"Almost all colleges have noble mission statements, but few have pervasive cultures or are able to focus employees on core competencies the way great companies like Coke, IBM and Wells Fargo do. Most colleges and universities try to be all things to all people. That way of doing business was tolerable when the market of high school graduates was expanding, as it was from 1990 to 2010. However, the production of high school graduates has fallen from its 3.4 million peak in 2011 to a current 3.2 million–and is likely to stay there until 2020. This ugly demographic fact, plus the decline in household wealth brought on by the Great Recession, has exacerbated the problem." Continue reading →

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Poll Finds Few Think We’re Winning War on Drugs

"Four decades after President Richard Nixon ushered in the modern war on drugs, fewer than one out of 20 Americans think it is being won, according to a new poll. A Rasmussen Reports poll released on Sunday found that only 4% of respondents believe that the US is 'winning' the war on drugs. Some 82% said it is 'losing.' 'Americans continue to overwhelmingly believe that the so-called war on drugs is failing, but they are more divided on how much the United States should be spending on it,' Rasmussen concluded. The Rasmussen poll also revealed a public deeply divided over what to do about it." Continue reading →

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