Prosthetic Conscience

Jason McBrayer's weblog; occasional personal notes and commentary

Sat, 29 Jul 2006

Moderate Anarchism defined, and nuclear power

Now, I am not a committed anarchist. But I do regard the likely shape of a stateless society as a partial basis for judging the legitimacy of actually existing institutions. If something could not exist without a government, that is not necessarily a reason for it not to exist. There must, though, be a presumption against its existence. Nothing can be desirable that involves a violation the rights of individuals to life and property acquired by consent. It may be necessary for the prevention of greater evils. But it must, to be accepted, have its case for existing made out on at least the balance of convenience—and perhaps even beyond reasonable doubt.

From the article Looking Beyond Nuclear by Sean Gabb. The article itself is largely a libertarian argument against nuclear power. I believe that it is partly based on some false premises, but his argument that the history of subsidies to the nuclear industry makes it effectively impossible to judge the costs and benefits of nuclear power in an objective fashion is well made. His beliefs about the innocuousness and abundance of coal and oil are probably wrong. But the article is worth reading, anyway.

[ Posted: 08:18] | [ Category: /politics] | Permalink | Comments: 0 ]

Zombies arrested in downtown Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Six friends spruced up in fake blood and tattered clothing were arrested in downtown Minneapolis on suspicion of toting “simulated weapons of mass destruction.”

Complete story

[ Posted: 06:36] | [ Category: /zombies] | Permalink | Comments: 0 ]