Steve Patterson

Author: Steve Patterson

  • The Starting Point in Philosophy

    My wife and I have been traveling this week, so here’s a video I shot before we left.

  • The US Can Learn from Scotland

  • An Anarchist’s Take on Scotland

    I am a huge fan of secession. So much, that I believe secession is legitimate down to the individual. If Scotland doesn’t want to be ruled by Westminster, I support their right to secede. If Glasgow doesn’t want to be ruled by Edinburgh, I support their right to secede. If the Eastern side of Glasgow want to govern themselves in a different way than the Western, I support their right to secede. If neighborhoods want a different political structure for their local communities, I believe they have a right to govern themselves – all the way down to the individual’s right to secede from any political system he finds himself under.

    (more…)

  • Life-Support Television

    Imagine a new drug made for old people. It has few physical effects, but many psychological. It keeps people calm and satiated, and it keeps their mind occupied without requiring physical activity. By sitting someone down and administering the drug, you can easily placate them. This drug already exists; it’s called “television”.

    (more…)

  • Love, Insanity, and Austrian Economics

    Love has been called “divine madness” for good reason. From the outside, it can be hard to distinguish true love from true insanity. We’ve all met couples with love stories that blur the line between romantic and completely nuts. But as crazy as these stories might sound, we can explain them perfectly with the lens of Austrian Economics. We can turn the insane into the rational – without losing too much romance in the process.

    (more…)

  • Paradox, Nonsense, and California

    Any sentence can be phrased a thousand ways. Any paragraph can be phrased a million; it depends on your intention. Scientists use different rhetoric than politicians. Businessmen write differently to colleagues than to family. A rhetorical flourish might be appropriate on the campaign trail, but probably not at the dinner table.

    In the world of ideas, writers and speakers want to be taken seriously. So, they choose their rhetoric accordingly. One popular method is the use of paradox. It’s become quite fashionable. Paradoxes are used to convey intellectual depth and mystery, highlighting the contradictions and murkiness in the world. Indeed, if you want to sound “deep”, contradict yourself as brazenly as possible:

    (more…)