“the sanest of all human impulses, the impulse that bids us put our trust in industry and a defined aim.”
G.K. Chesterton, “Lunacy and Letters,” in Alberto Manguel, ed., On Lying in Bed and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton
“the sanest of all human impulses, the impulse that bids us put our trust in industry and a defined aim.”
G.K. Chesterton, “Lunacy and Letters,” in Alberto Manguel, ed., On Lying in Bed and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton
“History is a vaccine against bad ideas. Unfortunately, current problems arise largely from a recycling of bad ideas from the past.”
Valerius Geist, Wildlife Conservation Policy
In my latest Mercatornet article I warn that AI is moving further and faster than we understand, with potentially disastrous consequences even if it gives us the life we think we want.
In my latest National Post column I say leftist parties are losing traction with the public, often sympathetic to them on other issues, because too much of the left unreflectively treats disloyalty to Western civilization as a virtue.
“The state is not the source of individual rights or of social community. It presupposes that these exist and are worth protecting, and that individuals reciprocally benefit from their interactions with one another…. The state becomes a moral imperative precisely because there is something of value that is worth protecting from the unbridled use of force by those who forsake tradition, family, and friends. A set of forced exchanges from existing rights does not create the original rights so exchanged… A forced exchange does not create culture and sense of community, it protects them by removing the need for compelling or allowing everyone to act as a policeman in his own estate.”
Richard Epstein, Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain
“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”
Réné Descartes, Discours de la Méthode (I’ve seen it variously translated; the original is “Ce n'est pas assez d'avoir l'esprit bon, mais le principal est de l'appliquer bien.”)