Freedom Through Technology.
Part of the "Critiques of Libertarianism" site.
http://world.std.com/~mhuben/libindex.html
Last updated 11/20/10.
Cypherpunks, high-tech libertarians, and various others mistakenly
think technology will eliminate the need for government (if not
outright eliminate government.) As foolish as the idea that
atomic weapons will end war.
Links
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The Internet and the Abiding Significance of Territorial Sovereignty
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by Jack Goldsmith. Shows why it is both desirable and practical for
territorial governments to regulate the internet. See also the other
related articles in
Indiana Journal of Global Studies Volume 5 Issue 2 Spring 1998.
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The Internet as a Threat to Sovereignty? Thoughts on the Internet's
Role in Strengthening National and Global Governance
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by Henry H. Perritt, Jr. See also the other related articles in
Indiana Journal of Global Studies Volume 5 Issue 2 Spring 1998.
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Libertarianism, Property & Harm.
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Chapter 2 of James Boyle's unpublished "Net Total: Law, Politics
and Property in Cyberspace". Thoroughly dismantles three libertarian
approaches to the problem of harms: [common] law, natural rights, and
property.
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Entertainment Values
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Paul Krugman's
Slate
article ridicules prophets of the Knowledge Economy, the Network
Economy, and the "new economy". He points out a number of industries
which have already matured which have had increasing returns, and
explains why this knowledge makes these boosters look foolish.
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Should Public Policy Support Open-Source Software?
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In a roundtable discussion, Lawrence Lessig takes Eric Raymond's
foolish libertarianism to task.
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The God Of The Digerati
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Jedediah Purdy's
The American Prospect
essay that dissects the adolescent fantasies of Wired Magazine.
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Cyberpower And Freedom
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Paul Starr's
The American Prospect
article that mildly rebukes high-tech libertarianism for its myopia
about the limitations, problems, and origins of high tech "solutions"
to government.
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The Pinnochio Theory
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Richard Barbrook's very harsh review of Kevin Kelly's "Out of Control: the New
Biology of Machines".
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Cyberlibertarian Myths And The Prospects For Community
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Langdon Winner punctures some of the electronic community promises,
and describes some forthcoming effects on our physical communities.
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Old Rules for the New Economy
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J. Bradford DeLong's criticisms of the economic naivete of Kevin
Kelly's "New Rules for the New Economy".
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A Critique of Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace"
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Reilly Jones' Extropy article lambasting the otherworldlyness of the
rather ludicrous declaration.
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Twilight of the crypto-geeks.
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Ellen Ullman's
Salon
sees a pattern of lone-wolf digital libertarians beginning to abandon
their faith in technology uber alles and espouse suspiciously
socialist-sounding ideas.
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Of greed, technolibertarianism and geek omnipotence.
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An interview with Paulina Borsook about her book
"Cyberselfish",
where she skewers high-tech libertarianism.
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Assassination Politics
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Convicted tax evader Jim Bell proposes a system of anonymous ecash
awards for the murder of "aggressors", such as IRS agents. See also
Crypto-Convict Won't Recant.
What he misses is that his system, if tolerated, would merely force
government to operate secretly rather than openly.
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Did Gore invent the Internet?
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Scott Rosenberg, of Salon, details the smear on Gore, and shows yet
another example of how Gore and government do work, contrary to
libertarian ideas that technology develops in a vacuum.
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Should Public Policy Support Open-Source Software?
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Nathan Newman's response at the end of a debate savages Eric Raymond
for his historical errors about development of the internet and
open source.
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Castles In The Sea: A Survey of Artificial Islands and Floating Utopias
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James Lee surveys a number of historical and planned artificial utopias,
including some libertarian ones.
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NEW 10/07:
Floating Utopias:
The degraded imagination of the libertarian seasteaders
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SF author China Mieville ridicules the numerous libertarian fantasy
sea-states (such as the "Freedom Ship") that envision authoritarian
class-based societies, but somehow never get built.
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NEW 5/09:
Seasteading: Libertarians Set to Launch a (Wet) Dream of 'Freedom' in International Waters
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Brad Reed takes an amused look at Patri Friedman's seasteading plans,
yet another repeat of utopian libertarian daydreams for the wealthy.
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NEW 6/10:
The Man Who Wants To Northern Rock The Planet
Matt Ridley's Rational Optimist is telling the rich what they want to hear
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Matt Ridley joins the ranks of cornucopian libertarians with a similarly
error-ridden and cherry-picked set of arguments.
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NEW 6/10:
Matt Ridley: Optimism without limits
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Liz Else, associate editor at
NewScientist,
shows skepticism of the Rational Optimist. Follow the link to the
experts criticisms where failed banker Ridley defends himself by
claining the experts are in it for the money: a standard denialist
tactic from policy entrepreneurs who ARE in it for the money.
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NEW 6/10:
Serial Mistake-Makers on Climate Change (Part I): On Matt Ridley and Bjorn Lomborg
Serial Mistake-Makers on Climate Change (2)
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Howard Friel, who wrote The Lomborg Deception, points out the
weak basis of the arguments in Matt Ridley's :
a circle jerk of industry-funded pseudoscience PR and bad references.
Print References
The links here are to
Amazon.com, through their associates program, primarily because of the
review information. Books without links are generally out of print,
and can often be easily found at
AddAll Used and Out Of Print Search.
Good sites for bargain shopping for sometimes expensive new books are
Online Bookstore Price Comparison
and
AddAll Book Search and Price Comparison.
Both of those list applicable coupons. Another is
BookFinder.com.
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Paulina Borsook
"Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech"
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A thorough and humorous skewering of the libertarian pretensions of the digerati.
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Mike Davis and Daniel Bertrand Monk
"Evil Paradises: Dreamworlds of NeoLiberalism"
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New Press, 2007. How utopian neoliberal development schemes aim at serving the
capitalist class alone, at the expense of everyone else.
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Lawrence Lessig
"Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace"
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Basic Books, 1999.
A non-libertarian view of the threats to freedom in cyberspace both from
government and the market. Makes the point that freedom comes from a
particular kind of government, not no government.
Copyright 2007 by Mike Huben ( mhuben@world.std.com ).
This document may be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes if it is reproduced in its textual entirety, with this notice intact.