Comments on: The Invisible Hook http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/ A blog for people with a critically rational individualist perspective Sat, 18 May 2013 23:15:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Alisa http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-281854 Alisa Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:08:03 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-281854 I created a monster. Put the tea over there, Paul!

]]> By: Paul Marks http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-281805 Paul Marks Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:15:51 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-281805 If you are not good – I will give you a three hour speech by Gladstone.

And lock the door so you can not escape.

]]> By: Laird http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-281797 Laird Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:58:25 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-281797 Thank you for sparing me the Gladstone quotes!

]]> By: Paul Marks http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-281611 Paul Marks Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:14:22 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-281611 Yes Laird – Freedomnomics (which one will not find in British bookstores – but then one will not find any free market books in British bookstores) is vastly better than Freakonomics.

People are often irrational and stupid – but if one wishes them to grow intellectually and morally one should not cripple them with statism (Paul spares you the Gladstone quotes at this point).

And the people in charge of the state are “irrational and stupid” also (just vastly more powerful). When the authors of Freakonomics say “we are all Homer Simpson sometimes” that is actually true – but they do not mean it to apply to themselves (the rulers). They are really winking and saying “apart from you and me”.

Scumbags – utter scumbags.

]]> By: Laird http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-281508 Laird Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:42:26 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-281508 I agree with you, Paul, about “Freakonomics”; it’s vastly overrated as well as overhyped. (John R. Lott wrote a deconstruction of it called “Freedomnomics” which is pretty good.) But on the evidence I see around me I would have to concur that people are “irrational and stupid”.

]]> By: Paul Marks http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-279802 Paul Marks Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:26:05 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-279802 I am not a fan of “Freakonecomics” it is from the same stable as “Nudge” and “Thinking Fast and Slow” – the authors all boost each other.

The message is (more openly with “Nudge” and “Thinking Fast and Slow”) “people are irational and stupid (apart from me and you – dear reader) therefore we, the noble educated elite, should use the state to control people – for their own good”.

]]> By: llamas http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-279718 llamas Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:49:12 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-279718 “I don’t like violence, Tom. I’m a businessman. Blood is a big expense.”

llater,

llamas

]]> By: Tedd http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-279712 Tedd Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:29:36 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-279712 Steven Levitt has written and spoken quite a bit about the present-day drug trade and how many of its practices mirror practices in the legal economy. The use of force has a cost even among pirates and drug dealers, so I think there are useful things to be learned about economics and human nature by looking at how such people behave when they choose to avoid it.

]]> By: llamas http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-279620 llamas Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:17:42 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-279620 I read it. It’s pretty good. Enough historical data to support his case, plenty of history, plenty of economics at a level I can grasp. Not dissimilar to Freakonomics, he does address some of the peculiarities of pirate economics in non-obvious ways.

He does also go quite deeply into the reasons why the economics and organization of piratical endeavours are different from normal life, and why it is incorrect and dangerous to hold up ‘the pirate way’ as an analogy for libertarian principles.

8 out of 10. Matey.

llater,

llamas

]]> By: Runcie Balspune http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-279566 Runcie Balspune Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:21:45 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-279566 an economy based on stealing stuff from other people doesn’t sound very libertarian to me, nevertheless I like books in this theme, similar to freakonomics?

]]> By: Paul Marks http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-279386 Paul Marks Tue, 22 Jan 2013 07:06:02 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-279386 Quite so Rob.

]]> By: Rob Fisher http://www.samizdata.net/2013/01/the-invisible-hook/#comment-279111 Rob Fisher Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:20:50 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=16436#comment-279111 It’s not that I am expecting pirates to be libertarian. It’s more that it is unusual to find a history book where the author understands markets and economics and will apply that thinking to his research.

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