Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Despote environmentalist and “post-modern” myths to the contrary, technology is a Good Thing. Many liberal profs will spread BS about how the 20th century demonstrated the “evils of technology” but I don’t buy any such thing. Technological progress is driven by the individual innovation and requires certain conditions to take place. While it is possible…

(This is an update of an earlier post)So I’ve already gotten in trouble once for publishing security exploits, but I think it’s worth chancing it again to make my point. I went by the Student Activities office today to get a subdomain name, and decided to ask for the SOFC # for the Libertarians. The…

Like many bureacracies, Amtrak just refuses to die. New evidence of incompetency causing the latest accident as wel as an incident where man suffering a heart attack on a rush-hour commuter train was forced to wait while the train made scheduled stops to pick up passengers before reaching paramedics in Boston don’t seem to deter…

I have been following the status of the legal legitimacy of arbitration for several years and I don’t like this ruling one bit. The implications are clear, as both Thomas and Dieteman mention, and I have a feeling this is only the beginning. I have been dreading just this ruling for a long time, and…

[DRUDGE]Bureaucratic Infighting Said To Have Stalled Airport Security EffortAlmost a year after the Bush administration promised a nationwide drive to tighten airport security, such efforts are being stymied by poor coordination among federal agencies and a lack of clear-cut technical requirements, said executives of aerospace and defense companies seeking to land government contracts. The WALL…

Check this out: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/ 07/22/borderless.internet.ap/index.html “Police in Italy didn’t care that five Web sites they deemed blasphemous and thus illegal were located in the United States, where First Amendment protections apply. The police shut them down anyway in early July, simply by sitting down at the alleged offender’s Rome computer. ” Yes, blasphemy is illegal…

The Center for the Moral Defense of Capitalism posted a “Supreme CourtYear in Review” for 2002 outlining decisions relevant to issues of individual rights. Interestingly, the court sided for individual rights in 55% of the cases, with Clarence Thomas (not suprisingly, my favorite justice) voting 75% for freedom. So is 55% a positive trend? Yes,…