Natural Rights
K-species is ecological jargon for a population growth pattern that hovers in balance around the carrying capacity of the environment. At the other end of the survival strategy spectrum are r-species, which colonize rapidly ahead of the competition, but because of this go through a series of booms and busts. Many k-species rely on social [...]
Skepticism, curiosity, adaptability and free will make up our natural rights. These are the fundamental choices Nature granted us in order to survive. When we naturally choose to be skeptical we learn from experience rather than do everything by automatic instinct. When we naturally choose to be curious we seek out new experiences to learn [...]
Continue reading about Natural Rights – Our Human Trademarks
I’m amazed at some of the things great scholars have deemed to be natural rights. Here’s a little tip from my upcoming book, The Five Forgotten Truths: Natural rights, by definition, cannot be provided by civilization. Property that can be stored or hoarded instead of used is not natural. The type of privacy that only [...]
Natural humanity learns from experience; civilized humanity learns from dogma. You could use epistemology as a guide to distinguish what is natural from what is civilized. We are natural because we are a natural “product” subject to natural laws. We also are civilized. Some would argue that being civilized results from our natural evolution, yet [...]
Continue reading about Human Nature – Learning from Experience
I know a bit about Bertrand Russell but have never read anything by him. This reveals an empirical quirk in my nature. I never read books about long-distance backpacking because I choose to experience that rather than read about it. Just so, what I know about Russell reveals similarity in our thinking: namely, that I [...]
Since I’m a fan of John Stuart Mill why not throw in an extra quote by him about human nature? Once again, metadata is from Quotationary by Leonard Roy Frank. After the primary necessities of food and raiment, freedom is the first and strongest want of human nature. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). The Subjection of [...]
Continue reading about Human Nature and John Stuart Mill (again)
I’ve criticized many Enlightenment philosophers, and even John Stuart Mill had his paternalistic leanings, but for the most part there is no Enlightenment philosopher I’m in closer agreement with. Here is one of two quotes from Mill pertinent to human nature, with metadata from Quotationary by Leonard Roy Frank. Human nature is not a machine [...]
Any recommendations I make regarding patents should be taken as just a rough mold to work into shape. As covered last time, before any meaningful change can be done to patents themselves we likely would have to first reverse the damage done by the Supreme Court with their pro-corporate jurisprudence over the years. In particular [...]
Continue reading about Innovation: Indulgence or Philanthropy – Part 5
This series has revolved around the quote “innovation without protection is philanthropy.” Does philanthropy best disseminate innovations that people want to copy, or does preventing the natural tendency of humans to copy good ideas serve as a market stimulus for innovations by appealing to “natural” greed? Innovations happen independently of corporations and neither corporations nor [...]
Continue reading about Innovation: Indulgence or Philanthropy – Part 4
What started this series is a quote in a NYT article stating “Innovation without protection is philanthropy.” If you take government out of the equation there could be no protections for innovations. Of course, if you take government protections out of the equation corporations could not exist, unlike proprietors who could. To determine whether government [...]
Continue reading about Innovation: Indulgence or Philanthropy – Part 3