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Cliff's Books, Pasadena

Will Sam Harris force Charlize Theron sleep with me? (Please?)

[Please see also Ten Serious Questions for Sam Harris]

I can’t seem to let go of Sam Harris’ extremely weak arguments for “impos[ing] wisdom or compassion [on us] from the top.” I observed below that when Harris uses the example of an irrational preference for smoking to defeat Francis Collins’ argument for the existence of God, the same analogy could just as well apply to self-sacrifice. But here’s a better example of Harris’ flawed arguments, both moral and political.

Property rights in 21st century America

The latest video release from LearnLiberty.org is my talk, a few years ago, in Washington, D.C., on the subject of property rights in 21st century America. It related of course, to my then-new book.

Still no reason or logic from Sam Harris (Updated)

[Welcome Andrew Sullivan Readers. This is the third in my series of posts on Sam Harris, here are (1), (2), (4) and (5)]

Sam Harris has responded to some criticisms—not mine, of course; I’m not an economist, and therefore not qualified. But here’s what he says in response to some of the criticisms he’s received for his “how much wealth is too much” piece.

First, on taxation, Harris—who in his first piece ridiculed the idea that taxation could be considered a form of theft, now says

I understand the ethical…concerns about taxation. I agree that everyone should be entitled to the fruits of his or her labors and that taxation, in the State of Nature, is a form of theft. But it appears to be a form of theft that we require, given how selfish and shortsighted most of us are.

How can one “require” a form of theft? And particularly, how can one’s shortsightedness and selfishness entitle one to commit theft?[*-see update below] In the story of the Little Red Hen, the other animals refused to help make the cake, and as a result, were not morally entitled to it; they acted selfishly and short-sightedly, and therefore were not entitled to commit the injustice of theft against the Little Red Hen, who acted virtuously and was therefore entitled to the fruits of her labors. But in Sam Harris’ version of the story, the very fact that they were selfish and short-sighted is all the more justification for taking away her wealth—committing what he now admits is theft—from the one who was wise, prudent, and hardworking. This is an amazing theory of justice.

More on Sam Harris

Apropos of my recent blog posts regarding Sam Harris (thanks, by the way, to Samizdata and Fourthcheckraise for the links)—my friend Abel Winn, who is an economist and is therefore allowed to write to Harris, sent him the following:

Hello Dr. Harris,
 
You noted on a recent post that you’d like to hear from economists with economic arguments for or against a couple of propositions.  I’m an economics professor at Chapman University.  I’d like to argue against the propositions.

 

Getty Museum perpetuates fraudulent piece of fake “art”

Los Angeles’ Getty Museum, not content with presenting actual art to the public, has decided to branch out into fraud, proudly displaying a rectangular slab of polyester, and participating in the pretense that it is a work of art. It’s “Gray Column” by De Wain Valentine. You can see it here. According to the museum’s press release, this presents Valentine’s “artistic vision” just right because it is a “simple geometric form” that “interacts intensely with the surrounding light.” What exactly is it a vision of? What thoughts does it provoke? What insight does it provide about existence and our relationship to existence—about being, about character, about life, about death? Absolutely nothing. It is a silent, unexpressive, mere fabricated object, as mute as a corpse and equally profound. Once again, the Nude Emperor struts through his Hall of Mirrors to the applause of his salon of pseudo-sophisticate relativists. It would be tragic if the joke were on us; that it’s really on them makes it all just so pathetic.

Shakespearean knock-knock jokes

At Shakespeare Geek blog. My favorite:

"Knock, knock."
Who's th....oh, hi Lavinia.  Doesn't it hurt your head to do that?

Another day...

...another Obamacare brief.

A letter from a listener

I got an email from someone who listened to my Armstrong & Getty appearance this morning, talking about regulation. Here’s the email (all the ellipses are his) and my reply.

On A&G to talk regulation

Update: You can listen here, and you can read the blog post in which I explain further here.

I should be on the Armstrong & Getty Show tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock to talk about government's role in regulating for public safety. As always, this is subject to possible last-minute programming changes. But you can listen online here.