I check Salon.com because its writers hate libertarians and especially anarcho-capitalists. But once in a while, even they get something right. This time, they point out that advances in technology are no panacea for liberty, but are used by the State the better to control us. They like that. of course, but virtually no one holds the full opposite view. Hans-Hermann Hoppe, for example, points out that a relatively free-market economy has fueled the biggest empires, like England’s and the US’s. The socialist USSR just didn’t have the wherewithal. He also notes that advancing technology has always been adopted by the State for its own nefarious purposes. These are not reasons to oppose technological progress nor markets, needless to say, but rather just another argument for keeping our eye on the ball, that is, on the State.Lew's point applies in many different situations.Libertarian Bitcoin fanboys should take note. It appears very likely that government will either kill Bitcoin or turn it into a tracking tool.
Bitcoin is not a libertarian answer.
New technologies can also be liberating. Anyone with a classical liberal education would have been taught that one of the causes of increasing freedom was Guttenberg's invention of movable type. When people had to rely on elites for knowledge, they were in mental bondage, When they could affordably read the bible for themselves religious revolution was possible and reformation inevitable. Better and safer transportation led to the rise of commerce, enriching the middle class. They soon agitated for more freedom and self determination.
ReplyDeleteOf course it used to be that what the mainstream media decided was not a story was not reported and not widely known. Now anyone is a publisher and a lot of uncomfortable stories are widely read even when the elites would like them to disappear.
A big problem is again the government schools. The end result is a lot of engineers working for the government directly and indirectly.
ReplyDeleteI did some work on government funded research many years ago before I knew better. While it was supposed to be for mundane use it have military applications and I hope it never went further than a journal paper or two.