Are there any non-coercive cultural preservation strategies that you would encourage people to try instead of using the state to try to preserve their preferred culture?
Why have you not written more vociferously about the ICE activity? Is it because you've been travelling? Do you have plans to discuss it from your unique version of libertarian perspective?
I try not to talk about current events unless I've got something new to say. I stand by my view that immigration laws are unjust, and people have every right to break them. And people enforcing unjust laws are the real criminals.
There's no God from above to determine when that line's been crossed.
For as long as I'm engaged in the activities that were culturally inherited, outside of those that required a community to do, I'm not sure it matters.
For example, the person who insists on cooking jollof rice the exact way that they learned it, and saying the same prayer as when they were younger before bed, needn't concern themselves with whether somebody is doing likewise in a house down the road.
I just think the title doesn't clearly communicate the point I know you'll be trying to make (and I agree with).
Why wasn't the book titled "You have no right to enforce your culture on others"? The title seems deliberately provocative in a way that contradicts your usual emphasis on friendliness.
I'm happy to do so - and probably agree - but I'm still confused on the deliberately inflammatory phrasing. You often remark about taking the common sense interpretation of how people say things, and the common sense interpretation of "You have no right to X" is "X doesn't belong to you", which is kinda strange when it comes to culture.
Having a right to a culture is like having a right to your own data - it is impossible. So I think the title is valid, regardless of Brian's explanation on the first page that he's mentioning.
Maybe helicopter parenting? I do have a whole story about this - people mistake short-run nurture effects for long-run nurture effects - but it's still puzzling how resilient it is.
"Four years ago, I hatched a plan to publish eight books of my collected blog essays. I sifted through thousands of old blog posts, selected the top 5%, and organized them by theme. There was Labor Econ Versus the World on labor econ, How Evil Are Politicians on demagoguery, Don’t Be a Feminist on wokeness, Voters as Mad Scientists on behavioral political economy, You Will Not Stampede Me on non-conformism, Self-Help Is Like a Vaccine on self-improvement, and Pro-Market and Pro-Business on free-market economics."
Granted, you can't answer this question for You Have No Right to Your Culture, yet. But nevertheless, which of these seven books has had the greatest impact so far?
1. Poland in 2022 made me realize that increasing a country's population by 15% in a month needn't be a disaster.
2. UAE made me realize that something close to open borders currently exists and is working wonderfully.
3. Multiple trips to places in Europe that allegedly demonstrate the horrors of immigration raised my confidence that the pessimists are innumerate.
4. Seeing unemployed African immigrants in Italy helped me understand the pessimists a bit better, but just amplified my view that Italy's labor market regs are terrible. Africans are doing great in UAE.
One culture-related objection that I feel like you didn’t address in Build Baby Build is the fact that most new buildings seem to be awfully ugly. With strip malls, non-denominational churches, and non-denominational churches in strip malls, America doesn’t seem interested in building beautiful buildings. Do you think zoning is to blame for this, or greedy business owners looking for cheap rent + customers don’t care?
India's population has been increasing by 1% annualy, where as number of new doctors is increasing by 7% annualy. India's gdp growth rate is 6% annualy. What does it mean for wages of doctors in india in future? Will it go up or down by how much? Any Idea? Do wages grow at about same rate as gdp growth?
My main issue with this take is that you leave economy to do philosophy. That's right Bryan, you have subjugated culture to something that needs to be figured out by market forces and be subject to them.
Is free market a product of our culture? There's an important question! In that case we're subjecting our culture to its own values and we are in a recursive type of situation! Should our culture contain self contradictory elements, it is bound to lose in this case.
What if culture stands above the free market as a principle that holds moral worth and therefore cannot be traded and put in competition without reversing some kind of moral order of things? Does that enter anywhere in Dr. Caplan's worldview or should the primacy of economics be taken as an absolute a priori before discussion is engaged in?
Overall, lots of beautiful history, but insular and living in the past. In public life, they're absurdly proud of their socialist and nationalist ideals, but fortunately there's little sign of it in daily life.
Great bread and ice cream, but Portugal's got better bread and Italy has better ice cream.
What's the deal on conspicuous consumption--the class with massive mansions and yachts, extravagant parties, jewelry that screams its worth, all seeking attention and publicity? It seems to me to be an insecurity and I'd think that those in this class would be embarrassed--certainly not motivated by Adam Smith's notion that we long to be loved and lovely. The peacock's plumes are a hard-wired mating ritual. But it's the married among humans that put on these displays.
To me, what's amazing is that most of today's super-rich look like normal people. Some of my richest friends look like complete slobs. If I had their money, I'd probably spend a lot of it on vanity projects a la Hearst Castle, though I'd micro-manage the aesthetics. (I want to see rococo dinosaurs in my statuary).
I'm not sure I've ever encountered the kind of rich person you're talking about, and I've been around elite circles quite a bit.
Are there any non-coercive cultural preservation strategies that you would encourage people to try instead of using the state to try to preserve their preferred culture?
Yes, marketing! Say it loud, say it proud.
Why have you not written more vociferously about the ICE activity? Is it because you've been travelling? Do you have plans to discuss it from your unique version of libertarian perspective?
I try not to talk about current events unless I've got something new to say. I stand by my view that immigration laws are unjust, and people have every right to break them. And people enforcing unjust laws are the real criminals.
You've been open about your esoteric interests and the things that make you happy, but what ones have you not discussed?
I know you have a rich set of passions.
For example, I never have reason to mention my weird love for my Fisher Space Pen.
Karaoke? Very fun, especially since my daughter is very musical like me. I enjoy singing even though I'm not good at it.
Perfect answer.
The title seems misguided.
I absolutely have a right to practice my culture, but expectations that my culture predominates would be antithetical to a free society.
If you alone practice your culture, your culture is dead, no?
There's no God from above to determine when that line's been crossed.
For as long as I'm engaged in the activities that were culturally inherited, outside of those that required a community to do, I'm not sure it matters.
For example, the person who insists on cooking jollof rice the exact way that they learned it, and saying the same prayer as when they were younger before bed, needn't concern themselves with whether somebody is doing likewise in a house down the road.
I just think the title doesn't clearly communicate the point I know you'll be trying to make (and I agree with).
Why wasn't the book titled "You have no right to enforce your culture on others"? The title seems deliberately provocative in a way that contradicts your usual emphasis on friendliness.
You may be right, but if you just read the first page you'll see my meaning.
I'm happy to do so - and probably agree - but I'm still confused on the deliberately inflammatory phrasing. You often remark about taking the common sense interpretation of how people say things, and the common sense interpretation of "You have no right to X" is "X doesn't belong to you", which is kinda strange when it comes to culture.
Still, I look forward to reading the title essay!
Having a right to a culture is like having a right to your own data - it is impossible. So I think the title is valid, regardless of Brian's explanation on the first page that he's mentioning.
What culture practice do you suspect should be the least likely to survive in the free marketplace of culture/idea but nevertheless is surviving there
Maybe helicopter parenting? I do have a whole story about this - people mistake short-run nurture effects for long-run nurture effects - but it's still puzzling how resilient it is.
"Four years ago, I hatched a plan to publish eight books of my collected blog essays. I sifted through thousands of old blog posts, selected the top 5%, and organized them by theme. There was Labor Econ Versus the World on labor econ, How Evil Are Politicians on demagoguery, Don’t Be a Feminist on wokeness, Voters as Mad Scientists on behavioral political economy, You Will Not Stampede Me on non-conformism, Self-Help Is Like a Vaccine on self-improvement, and Pro-Market and Pro-Business on free-market economics."
Granted, you can't answer this question for You Have No Right to Your Culture, yet. But nevertheless, which of these seven books has had the greatest impact so far?
*Don't Be a Feminist* sold the most copies and produced the most discussion.
Have you ever traveled to a foreign country and it caused a change in your viewpoint on any issue?
Many times. Just a few cases...
1. Poland in 2022 made me realize that increasing a country's population by 15% in a month needn't be a disaster.
2. UAE made me realize that something close to open borders currently exists and is working wonderfully.
3. Multiple trips to places in Europe that allegedly demonstrate the horrors of immigration raised my confidence that the pessimists are innumerate.
4. Seeing unemployed African immigrants in Italy helped me understand the pessimists a bit better, but just amplified my view that Italy's labor market regs are terrible. Africans are doing great in UAE.
5. Seeing Japan made me realize how depressing it is for smart people to do menial jobs. https://www.betonit.ai/p/human-capital-hara-kiri
Thank you! Makes sense in all cases.
What do you think will India grow old before it becomes rich?
One culture-related objection that I feel like you didn’t address in Build Baby Build is the fact that most new buildings seem to be awfully ugly. With strip malls, non-denominational churches, and non-denominational churches in strip malls, America doesn’t seem interested in building beautiful buildings. Do you think zoning is to blame for this, or greedy business owners looking for cheap rent + customers don’t care?
India's population has been increasing by 1% annualy, where as number of new doctors is increasing by 7% annualy. India's gdp growth rate is 6% annualy. What does it mean for wages of doctors in india in future? Will it go up or down by how much? Any Idea? Do wages grow at about same rate as gdp growth?
All of economic history says that economic growth means higher wages. This is especially true for luxury goods like medicine.
Reposting from original article:
My main issue with this take is that you leave economy to do philosophy. That's right Bryan, you have subjugated culture to something that needs to be figured out by market forces and be subject to them.
Is free market a product of our culture? There's an important question! In that case we're subjecting our culture to its own values and we are in a recursive type of situation! Should our culture contain self contradictory elements, it is bound to lose in this case.
What if culture stands above the free market as a principle that holds moral worth and therefore cannot be traded and put in competition without reversing some kind of moral order of things? Does that enter anywhere in Dr. Caplan's worldview or should the primacy of economics be taken as an absolute a priori before discussion is engaged in?
Have you ever traveled to France ? If yes, what struck you about French culture?
About five times. Wrote one trip up here: https://www.betonit.ai/p/reflections_onhtml.
Overall, lots of beautiful history, but insular and living in the past. In public life, they're absurdly proud of their socialist and nationalist ideals, but fortunately there's little sign of it in daily life.
Great bread and ice cream, but Portugal's got better bread and Italy has better ice cream.
What's the deal on conspicuous consumption--the class with massive mansions and yachts, extravagant parties, jewelry that screams its worth, all seeking attention and publicity? It seems to me to be an insecurity and I'd think that those in this class would be embarrassed--certainly not motivated by Adam Smith's notion that we long to be loved and lovely. The peacock's plumes are a hard-wired mating ritual. But it's the married among humans that put on these displays.
To me, what's amazing is that most of today's super-rich look like normal people. Some of my richest friends look like complete slobs. If I had their money, I'd probably spend a lot of it on vanity projects a la Hearst Castle, though I'd micro-manage the aesthetics. (I want to see rococo dinosaurs in my statuary).
I'm not sure I've ever encountered the kind of rich person you're talking about, and I've been around elite circles quite a bit.
Will this AMA be available to read later and where? I am very interesting in the topic. However, I'm not in NYC so I cannot attend. Thank you.
The AMA is right here. The NYC event is just a meet-up.
RSVP.