Kinsella On Liberty

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 200. I was interviewed yesterday by Steve Rose of The Anarchist Standard about a libertarian/anarchist strategy and a variety of other matters. From his description: "Stephan and I discussed his path to anarchism, the changing labels for the liberty movement, artificial intelligence, religion, world government, and prospects for the future of liberty."  

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 199. I discussed legislation and law  with Tom Woods on his show today, Episode 557: Ep. 557 The State’s Corruption of Private Law, or We Don’t Need No Legislature 17th December 2015 Ever since we learned in school how a bill becomes a law, we’ve absorbed the idea that it’s normal for law to be imposed from the top down. But it’s possible, and indeed the historical norm, for law to emerge in a completely different, more libertarian-friendly way. Join me for a great conversation with Stephan Kinsella! Transcript below. Youtube version: More description from Tom's shownotes: Related Links “Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society” (PDF) by Stephan Kinsella Liberty and Law (PDF), by Giovanni Sartori “The State’s Corruption of Private Law,” by Stephan Kinsella “Another Problem with Legislation: James Carter and the Field Codes,” by Stephan Kinsella Related Books Law, Legislation, and Liberty, vol. 1: Rules and Order, by F.A. Hayek Freedom and the Law, b

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 198. This is a discussion with Ash Navabi, an economics grad student at George Mason, who messaged me this question: Hi Stephan. I'm having a conceptual problem distinguishing IP and tangible property. In Against IP, you said that an IP right gives the IP owner "invariably transfer partial ownership of tangible property from its natural owner to innovators, inventors, and artists." But doesn't this apply to every property right? If I own a tract of land, why can't we say that if I ban you riding across it with your dirt bike, then I am claiming ownership over your dirt bike? I decided to just discuss this with him for the podcast. We ended up veering into a couple tangential issues like auctions for trade secrets in an IP-free world, and so on. Before we talked, I asked him to read: “The Non-Aggression Principle as a Limit on Action, Not on Property Rights,” StephanKinsella.com Blog (Jan. 22, 2010) “IP and Aggression as Limits on Property Rights: How They Differ,”St

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 197. I discussed Rothbardian/libertarian contract theory with Tom Woods on his show today. Transcript below. Ep. 547 The Central Rothbard Contribution I Overlooked, and Why It Matters Youtube: 3rd December 2015 Stephan Kinsella explains the importance of Rothbard’s theory of contract — a point I myself did not appreciate until this episode — and contrasts it with mainstream theories, which most libertarians think are the same as their own. We need to get these fundamentals right, so listen in and learn with me! Articles Discussed “Toward a Reformulation of the Law of Contracts,” by Williamson M. Evers “A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, Inalienability,” by Stephan Kinsella Book Discussed The Ethics of Liberty, by Murray N. Rothbard For some more related posts/resources: A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability, Journal of Libertarian Studies 17, no. 2 (Spring 2003): 11-37 [based on

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 196. This is my appearance on the Jason Stapleton Program: Intellectual Property: A Libertarian Debate with Stephan Kinsella.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 195. This is my appearance on the The 21st Century Anarchist Podcast Ep. 038: IP with Stephan Kinsella, with host Hermann Morris: "An introduction to intellectual property law and how it relates to libertarianism." Youtube:

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 194. This is an impromptu discussion with my wonderful parents, Norman and Patsy Kinsella, who live in Prairieville, Louisiana. We did this a couple days ago, Oct. 1, on my 50th birthday. As sometimes happens in October in Louisiana, the weather starts getting nice around that time, and so we were sitting outside on the porch and when my dad got out his ballot to vote by mail in an upcoming election, I whipped out my iPhone and did a quick interview with them about politics that I thought might be of interest to some of my followers. (N.b.: For those interested in more details on related matters, see How I Became A Libertarian (2002), later published as “Being a Libertarian” in I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians.)

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 193. This is my appearance on Albert Lu’s “The Economy” podcast. This is part 3 of 3. We discussed property rights, bitcoin ownership, intellectual property, and related matters. See also: KOL085 | The History, Meaning, and Future of Legal Tender Episode video below: Full video of all three parts below.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 192. This is my appearance on Albert Lu’s “The Economy” podcast, Episode 2015-9-23. This is part 2 of 3. From Albert Lu's description: Your host Albert continues the discussion with patent attorney Stephan Kinsella. In the second of a three-part interview, they discuss the concept of “ownership”. Topics Covered The entire world is made of hardware and owned by someone Fiat money is similar to Bitcoin How property rights arise de facto vs. de jure ownership What is a “good”? Part 1 is here: KOL191 | The Economy with Albert Lu: Can You Own Bitcoin? (1/3). Part 3 follows in the next episode. Episode video below: Full video of all 3 parts here:

This is my appearance on Albert Lu's "The Economy" podcast. This is part 1 of 3. We discussed property rights, bitcoin ownership, intellectual property, and related matters. Parts 2 and 3 to follow in due course. Relevant links: KOL233 | Mises UK Podcast: Bitcoin Ownership and the Global Withering of the State for more on whether bitcoin is ownable property, see this Facebook thread KOL085 | The History, Meaning, and Future of Legal Tender KOL086 | RARE Radio interview with Kurt Wallace: The War on Bitcoin KOL 043 | Triple-V: Voluntary Virtues Vodcast, with Michael Shanklin: Bitcoin, Legal Reform, Morality of Voting, Rothbard on Copyright Tax Plan May Hurt Bitcoin, WSJ Swiss Tax Authorities Confirm that Bitcoin is VAT-free in Switzerland Tokyo court says bitcoins are not ownable FinCEN Rules Commodity-Backed Token Services are Money Transmitters Bitcoin Is Officially a Commodity, According to U.S. Regulator; Miami Judge Rules Bitcoin Is Not Money; Dismisses Money Laundering, Transmitt

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 190. This is my talk “On Life without Patents and Copyright: Or, Who Would Pick The Cotton?”, delivered at the Property and Freedom Society, 10th Annual Meeting, Bodrum, Turkey (Sep. 13, 2015). Update: See KOL190 | Part 2: On Life without Patents and Copyright: Or, But Who Would Pick the Cotton? — Panel Discussion, Hoppe, Dürr, Kinsella, van Dun, Daniels (PFS 2015). Transcript below. Video below. This version is taken from my iPhone recording. My notes used for the speech are pasted below. Also below is a video of the Q&A panel session following the talk. Related: Do Business Without Intellectual Property (Liberty.me, 2014) (PDF). NOTES On Life without Patents and Copyright: Or, But Who Would Pick the Cotton? Stephan Kinsella Kinsella Law Group, Libertarian Papers, C4SIF.org Property and Freedom Society, 10th Annual Meeting Bodrum, Turkey (Sep. 13, 2015)   A pleasure to be at PFS or, as I’m starting to think of it, the Land of Successive Hangovers Hoppe: do

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 189. This is an interview I did a few weeks ago with English libertarian Richard Storey. We discuss the nature of libertarianism, its roots in Western Rationalism and how to defend and promote it, property rights and scarcity, the significance of Hoppe's argumentation ethics, praxeology, Misesian dualism, logical positivism, legal positivism,  and related matters. Related material: What Libertarianism Is Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide Logical and Legal Positivism  

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 188. I was a guest last night (Sunday night, Aug. 23, 2015) on the Free Talk Live radio show, with hosts Mark Edge and Ian Freeman, discussing the common law, legislation, restitution, and related issues. For background/related: Another Problem with Legislation: James Carter v. the Field Codes Legislation and Law in a Free Society Fraud, Restitution, and Retaliation: The Libertarian Approach The Libertarian Approach to Negligence, Tort, and Strict Liability: Wergeld and Partial Wergeld The (State’s) Corruption of (Private) Law Punishment and Proportionality: The Estoppel Approach

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 187. I appeared on Jeff Berwick's show in 2012: Kinsella on Anarchast Discussing IP, Anarcho-libertarianism, and Legislation vs. Private Law (Dec. 29, 2012): I was a guest on Jeff Berwick's Anarchast (ep. 51, 36 min), released today. We discussed anarchy and how such a society might be reached; the basis and origin of law and property rights and its relationship to libertarian principles, and implications for legislation versus law and the legitimacy of intellectual property; also, utilitarianism, legal positivism, scientism, and logical positivism. Description from the Anarchist site below. For more background on IP, see the C4SIF Resources page; on legislation vs. private law, see The (State’s) Corruption of (Private) Law. Update: See also Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society.   Anarchast Ep. 51 with Stephan Kinsella   Jeff Berwick in Acapulco, Mexico, talks with Stephan Kinsella in Houston, Texas Topics include: - Stephan explains how he became an

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 186. The Great IP Debate: Stephan Kinsella vs. Alexander Baker  Liberty.me (July 8, 2014). From the Liberty.me description: Intellectual property is one of the most controversial topics among libertarians. Can ideas be legitimate forms of property? Do the benefits of intellectual property laws, such as providing incentives for inventors, overcome the negatives, such as benefiting large corporations relative to newcomers in industry? Stephan Kinsella argues ideas are not and cannot be property, and that the negatives of IP easily outweigh the positives: IP amounts to a grant of government monopoly. Alexander Baker counters with a theory entitled “Intellectual Space” which argues that intangible goods (songs, movies, software, games) display all the same characteristics (homesteadable, useful, costly, scarce, rivalrous) as physical goods (bicycles, factories, diamonds), thus requiring property rights to eliminate conflict over their use. Related: KOL 040 | INTERVIEW: Al

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 185. From a Liberty.me seminar from July 14, 2014. Clarifying Libertarian Theory with Stephan Kinsella Everyone seem to have an opinion about what the “correct” libertarianism is. What are its limits? What are the areas in which libertarians get bogged down in semantic arguments and minutiae, and what are the arguments that really matter? Stephan Kinsella believes that he has the answers, and will share them Monday, July 14th at 9pm EDT! Video here, also embedded below: Related: KOL 045 | “Libertarian Controversies Lecture 1″ (Mises Academy, 2011); KOL 044 | “Correcting some Common Libertarian Misconceptions” (PFS 2011)

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 184. Last month I attended PorcFest 2015 and delivered this talk on intellectual property. Video version below (followed by a lower quality version shot by James Cox). I also participated in a debate on anarchy and participated in a couple of radio shows (Ernie Hancock’s Freedom Phoenix and Free Talk Live). James Cox shot some other videos as well, which are up on his channel; a few of these are also embedded below. Porcfest 2015: The Root of All Evil (official PorcFest version) Lecture: Intellectual Property is the Root of All Evil: Porcfest 2015 (James Cox version)   Stephan Kinsella - Intellectual Property: The Root of All Evil Sign up or log in to save this event to your list and see who's attending! TweetShare In this talk, Kinsella explains that the most evil state policies and institutions include war, taxation, state provided education, central banking, the drug war — and intellectual property, or IP, namely patent and copyright law. In the modern a

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 183. I recently attended PorcFest 2015 and participated in a debate on anarchy and other matters, plus a speech on IP as the Root of All Evil. The YouTube, filmed by James Cox, is below. The audio here was captured by my iphone. Update: From Ayn Rand in the Campground: The Atlas Society at PorcFest "During a highlight of the conference -- people had been anticipating it for weeks -- William Thomas debated Rand’s principle of minimal government with anarchist Stephen Kinsella to a packed and lively audience. The tent was full, with standing room only, and people were still spilling out of the tent. Everyone listened with rapt attention, cheered their favorite points, and hung around for hours afterward to talk and debate ideas. (See the video, here: https://goo.gl/snjmXE)   Lecture: Intellectual Property is the Root of All Evil: Porcfest 2015 Also: Appeared as a guest on Ernie Hancock's Freedom's Phoenix episode for 6/26/15 (in Hour 2). We discussed IP-related asp

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 182. In January 2014, Stefan Molyneux (of FreeDomain Radio) and I had a discussion with Harrison Fischberg about the foundation of libertarian ethics. I just realized that I never put this on my podcast feed so—here it is.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 181. I discussed argumentation ethics with Tom Woods on his show today: Ep. 370 It Is Impossible to Argue Against Libertarianism Without Contradiction By Tom Woods / March 31, 2015 / Podcast Stephan Kinsella discusses the argumentation ethics of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, who argues that only libertarian norms can be argumentatively. READ MORE Tom cleverly chose as the title for the episode a provocative one reminiscent of the bold title of Hoppe's Liberty article,  "The Ultimate Justification of the Private Property Ethic"  (September 1988). I've discussed it several times in the past in audio and text. See, e.g.: “Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide” (2011) (Audio) "New Rationalist Directions in Libertarian Rights Theory" KOL155 | “The Social Theory of Hoppe: Lecture 3: Libertarian Rights and Argumentation Ethics” “Argumentation Ethics, Estoppel, and Libertarian Rights: Adam Smith Forum, Moscow” “Argumentation Ethics, Estoppel, and Libertarian Rig