The Daily Bendiken

“

It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. [W]hen it is squandered through luxury and indifference, and spent for no good end, we realize it has gone, under the pressure of the ultimate necessity, before we were aware it was going.

So it is: the life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.

— Seneca the Younger, On the Shortness of Life

Infinitely many number systems, but only four useful ones in which division is possible

Entering an Apple Restriction Zone

“ A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

— Attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee

I Like Guns by Steve Lee

» Bruce Schneier on CNN: U.S. backdoor enabled Chinese hacking of Google

“In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. […] China’s hackers subverted the access system Google put in place to comply with U.S. intercept orders.”

» Arto Bendiken: Dissecting the Unlicense - Software Freedom in Four Clauses and a Link

I’ve previously written on the motivation that led us to formulate the Unlicense, a template for dedicating your software to the public domain. Today, I will elucidate the rationale for and the provenance of each of the four brief paragraphs (plus footer) that constitute the Unlicense.

» Ben Lavender: The promising future of the Unlicense

“So the public launch of the unlicense movement on January 1st has gone better than expected. […] There are three main concerns that seem to keep appearing in discussions in regards to releasing software into the public domain. I’d like to briefly offer a response to them, and then provide an example of why public domain might be what you’re looking for for your software.”

XKCD on Open Source

» 2081: Everyone will finally be equal

A short film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron, 2081 depicts a dystopian future in which, thanks to the 212th Amendment to the Constitution and the unceasing vigilance of the United States Handicapper General, everyone is “finally equal…” The strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the intelligent wear earpieces that fire off loud noises to keep them from taking unfair advantage of their brains. It is a poetic tale of triumph and tragedy about a broken family, a brutal government, and an act of defiance that changes everything.

» Arto Bendiken: Set Your Code Free

1st January is Public Domain Day, in honor of which I’m hereby relicensing (or more properly, unlicensing) all of my software into the public domain.

Uranium is so last century; enter thorium, the new green nuke

“

Guy A: “Hey buddy, isn’t that your car over there?”

Guy B: “Yeah. So?”

Guy A: “So someone’s breaking into it! Look!”

Guy B: “Well, that’s the price I pay to live in a civilized country.”

Guy A: “Huh? Now he’s hot-wiring it. You just gonna stand there?”

Guy B: “I’m willing to contribute to this great society we live in.”

Guy A: “What are you talking about? You’re being robbed!”

Guy B: “Don’t be silly. It’s not robbery. It’s the will of the people.”

Guy A: “What people? Aren’t you the one who paid for the car?”

Guy B: “Yeah, but the guy who’s taking it is serving the common good.”

Guy A: “How does that guy stealing your car help the common good?”

Guy B: “Well, I trust he’ll do useful things with my car.”

Guy A: “Weren’t you going to do useful things with it?”

Guy B: “Yes, but if we each just used our own stuff, there would be chaos!”

Guy A: “Well, you can trade stuff, but that guy just stole your car!!”

Guy B: “No he didn’t. By living on this block I agreed to lose my car.”

Guy A: “So anyone can swipe your car, and you don’t mind?”

Guy B: “Don’t be silly! Only the local carjacker can do it.”

Guy A: “So whoever decides to be a carjacker is allowed to rob you?”

Guy B: “Well, if I don’t like it, I can try to appoint a new local carjacker.”

Guy A: “What would be the point of that? The new guy would still steal your car!”

Guy B: “Yes, but he would be representing me while stealing my car.”

— Larken Rose, Please Enslave Me! (via Bill St. Clair)

“ The Taoists were the world’s first libertarians, who believed in virtually no interference by the state in economy or society […] By far the most interesting of the Chinese political philosophers were the Taoists, founded by the immensely important but shadowy figure of Lao Tzu. Little is known about Lao Tzu’s life, but he was apparently a contemporary and personal acquaintance of Confucius. Like the latter he came originally from the state of Sung and was a descendant of lower aristocracy of the Yin dynasty. Both men lived in a time of turmoil, wars and statism, but each reacted very differently. For Lao Tzu worked out the view that the individual and his happiness was the key unit of society. If social institutions hampered the individual’s flowering and his happiness, then those institutions should be reduced or abolished altogether. To the individualist Lao Tzu, government, with its “laws and regulations more numerous than the hairs of an ox,” was a vicious oppressor of the individual, and “more to be feared than fierce tigers.” Government, in sum, must be limited to the smallest possible minimum; “inaction” became the watchword for Lao Tzu, since only inaction of government can permit the individual to flourish and achieve happiness. Any intervention by government, he declared, would be counterproductive, and would lead to confusion and turmoil. The first political economist to discern the systemic effects of government intervention, Lao Tzu, after referring to the common experience of mankind, came to his penetrating conclusion: “The more artificial taboos and restrictions there are in the world, the more the people are impoverished. The more that laws and regulations are given prominence, the more thieves and robbers there will be.

— Murray N. Rothbard, Libertarianism in Ancient China (from Economic Thought Before Adam Smith)

An Agorist manifesto in 95 theses