SCIENCE

Science was born as a result and consequence of philosophy; it cannot survive without a philosophical (particularly epistemological) base. If philosophy perishes, science will be next to go. – AYN RAND

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Not End the Demand for Human Labor

The AI boom is just the latest chapter in mankind’s upward rise that began with the Industrial Revolution and the power loom more than two centuries ago.

Interventions Beget Interventions

Interventions Beget Interventions

It has long been noted that government intervention seldom, if ever, accomplishes the stated purpose. When the failure of some regulation, subsidy, or program becomes clear, legislators respond with further interventions. As an example, consider the solar panel...

Big Oil: Please, Please Let Us Drill

Big Oil: Please, Please Let Us Drill

The headline on CNN.com said it all: “Big Oil’s promise: Let us drill, we’ll hire 1.4 million workers.” The article goes on to say: With job creation taking center stage in American politics, the oil industry Wednesday made a pitch for drilling more widely. With...

The EPA’s RRP Rule isn’t About Safety

The EPA’s RRP Rule isn’t About Safety

I wrote this in May 2010. It remains relevant. On April 22, 2010 an EPA regulation governing renovation, repair, and painting (RRP) took effect. The regulation governs any activity that will disturb paint containing lead and applies to all homes built before 1978 and...

Ethics of Energy Companies

Ethics of Energy Companies

Energy companies, particularly those producing fossil fuels—oil, natural gas, coal—are under attack by the environmentalists and their sympathizers in the media. It is one thing to criticize companies such as BP, deservedly, for lax safety procedures or lacking...

The “Limits” of Economic Progress

The “Limits” of Economic Progress

A few weeks ago I caught a portion of a radio program in which a commentator argued that economic progress has limits.  He used a hamster as an example: For the first few weeks of his life, a hamster doubles in size each week. If he did this for a year, he would...

No Easy Fix for Gas Prices

No Easy Fix for Gas Prices

This month, as unleaded gasoline prices increased for 17 consecutive days (to a national average of $3.647 per gallon - up 11% thus far this year) and West Texas Intermediate crude joined Brent crude in breaking through a $100 per barrel level, energy prices emerged...

What The "Green" in the Green Movement Stands For

What The "Green" in the Green Movement Stands For

The U.N. has proposed that $2 trillion per year be provided to them to ensure the development of "green technologies" over the next 40 years. Failure to let the U.N. do this, according to them, will result in the end of the world as we know it. "Green" technologies...

Green Energy Fantasy

Green Energy Fantasy

If we want to restore economic growth and reduce our vulnerability to the elements, what we need is not “green energy” forced upon us by government coercion but real energy delivered on a free market.

Net Neutrality: Obamacare for the Internet

Net Neutrality: Obamacare for the Internet

In case you haven't heard, Obama's FCC has passed new rules requiring private companies who provide Internet services to submit to control under the government. What will government's rules be? Those are yet to be determined. But the government alone will decide what...

Religion Turns Green

Religion Turns Green

It's remarkable how you can do more and more things online. Paying bills, for example, can be "paperless." With the stroke of a few computer keys, you can pay all your bills without the use of mail, paper or pens. The self-consciously "green" love to brag about how...

BP Oil Spill: Private Property is the Solution

For this article, let me be brief about the following facts, which are oil and water under the bridge. BP’s off-shore oil leases, like all off-shore oil leases, are leases to use federal property. (Hat tip to this article in The Freeman.) The land and water are...

A Free Market in Water

A Free Market in Water

Houston–where I live–has been under a severe drought. This year, we have received about one-third of our normal rainfall. In response, the city has enacted water rationing and citizens will be fined if they violate the restrictions. At the same time, the city reports...

Moratorium One of Many Obama Oil Spill Mistakes

he order by a federal district court in Louisiana overturning President Obama’s six-month general moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates many of the mistakes the administration has made in handling this environmental disaster. ...

Obama’s Cap-and-Trade: Lifeline or Noose?

Obama’s Cap-and-Trade: Lifeline or Noose?

Throughout his presidential campaign, Barack Obama pledged to address the "crisis" of anthropogenic global warming. Since taking office his cabinet appointments and policy initiatives have not disappointed those who believe such a crisis exists and that America should...

Environmentalism vs Creativity

Environmentalism vs Creativity

It’s businesspeople, not “Friends of the Earth,” who, by translating scientific discoveries into practical reality, actually advance human life and eliminate pollution.

The Earth is Mankind’s Garden

The Earth is Mankind’s Garden

If the welfare of human life was the standard by which we judged industry and technology, there would be no reason to have a day like "Earth Day." Rather than the environmentalists parading their assault on anything and everything that is a mark of human existence on...

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