Experiments to determine if ethics professors behave differently than others. Non-alignment between beliefs and actions in ethics professors vs. others. Altruism as a cause of non-alignment. Aiming for moral mediocrity. Why is it morally admirable to give your kidney to a stranger? How are ethical questions decided? Utilitarianism/egoism--how to decide between them? Ayn Rand’s metaethics. What gives rise to values? Being a living organism? Being a member of a society? What’s good for society vs. what’s good for the individual--is there a conflict? Are morality and self-interest opposed? Reason and emotion’s role in justifying what’s ethical. The relation of reason and emotion. Historical evidence against/for evolutionarily built-in altruism (ancient Greece and China). Linguistically settling what’s “moral.” What gives rise to the concept “good” or “value”? Is one’s life at the root of all values? Is one’s consciousness? A thought experiment from Mencius. Is valuing of others rooted in valuing of oneself?

"If You Don't Like Taxes, Leave Society!" by Dan Norton

Script

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Coercive taxation should be abolished. It’s immoral to forcibly take people’s wealth. When I say this to people, I often get a question like: “Then how will roads and firefighters and police be paid for?” My answer is: Voluntarily. But I can be more specific.

In the case of roads, more specifically highways, they could be funded by tolls or by selling space to advertisers on billboards, or both. In business or residential areas, the cost of roads could be factored into the cost of renting office space or of buying a home, so when businesses pay their rent or homeowners make mortgage payments, they are also helping to pay for local roads.

In the case of firefighting, you might have an option to pay relatively small monthly premiums for fire insurance. Or you might opt not to buy fire insurance and take the risk of having to pay a relatively large amount for service only if and when needed.

Police protection could be paid for by donations and/or a government lottery.

So that’s a bit about how voluntary funding of roads, firefighting, and police could work. There may be other voluntary funding methods as well.

What do you think? Could this work? Let me know in the comments.

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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DanNorton

Austin’s view and critique of capitalism. Is capitalism natural? What is “freedom”? Advertising. Is capitalism coercive? Being “forced” to use Amazon. Survival. Capitalism and opportunities. Government programs. Homelessness and minimum wage.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DanNorton

Should an embryo or collection of cells inside the womb count as a “human”? The hostility of many anti-abortionists. Is abortion “murder”? The line-drawing issue. What about the case of rape? Do animals and quadriplegics deserve more regard than invisible cell clumps? What is the source of rights? Is God necessary for morality? Conjoined twins. A thought experiment: a new way to grow children. The purpose of rights and whether they apply to cell clumps. What about the morning-after pill? Children seeds (the thought experiment revisited).

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DanNorton

The existence of God; the beginning of the universe and the Big Bang; two types of atheism; is religion necessary for civilization? the meaning of life; Ayn Rand’s view of social relationships and family; feminism, abortion and rights; Ayn Rand’s philosophy vs. Judeo-Christian philosophy.

Recorded on February 18, 2021.

Daniel’s transition from Judaism to atheism to member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; his reasons for changing his view; God and science; materialism; God’s omnipotence and omniscience; God and the laws of nature; creation from nothing and the book of Genesis; reconciling free will and divine foreknowledge; the Objectivist view of selfishness and its implications for one’s relations to others, including risking one’s life for others; loving one’s enemy; unearned love, justice, and Christianity.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DanNorton

Why live for others (like Jesus) instead of for oneself? The "tree" and its "fruit." Original sin, free will, and explaining the differences between people. How to change oneself for the better. Ayn Rand and selfishness, and the case of divorce.

Is being a veterinarian (or doctor) selfless or selfish? Mother Teresa. Selfless person vs. selfless action. Is it bad to put oneself ahead of others? Is morality subjective? Is it arbitrary?

Would you give money to a homeless person? If so, how much? What would Mother Teresa do? Will you always feel guilty for not emulating her? A new ideal (Ayn Rand). Systemic (political) change.