Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Richard Epstein on Happiness

I'm falling behind. Lots of great recent stuff from Richard Epstein, but I've been too lazy to update the blog lately. I'll get on it soon.

I'm heading to the gym in a bit where I'll listen to this this podcast where Richard Epstein talks about happiness. Is there any subject he doesn't cover??

I'm glad to report that my brainy lawyer friend Barry is now a full-fledged Epstein disciple. He described listening to Epstein as a kind of religious experience lol. I like the idea of building a club around the smartest person in the world. I mean, imagine if you could shoot an email to Aristotle and get a response? lol

EDIT: Just got home from the gym and finished the podcast. Wow. One of the best Epstein talks ever!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Richard Epstein's 10 Point Plan

Richard Epstein was on something called the Free Market Series, and apparently they were so blown away by him that they asked him back to do a second episode. Both are amazing.


I also found this nice little video where he slams the minimum wage:

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Epstein on the Climate

First of all, here's another great explanation of libertarianism from Richard Epstein: Epstein on Libertarianism

And here is his latest from Hoover on the Voting Rights Act: The Mirage of Racism

The latest Libertarian podcast: The Voting Rights Act

Now, here's what threw me for a loop. I had never really heard Richard Epstein talk about climate change until I found this: Epstein talks about climate science

That video starts out awesome, with Epstein kicking everyone's ass intellectually in the way only he can do. But then he starts talking about climate science. Now, my understanding of global warming and all that is mostly informed by just a Teaching Company lecture series I listened to on the subject which left me convinced that while there are very smart objections raised by very smart skeptics, at the end of the day the science is still pretty compelling that anthropogenic climate change is real.

Climate skeptics include the likes of genius physicist Freeman Dyson, so I'm not entirely surprised when brilliant people express skepticism on the subject. But Richard Epstein is not just any brilliant person. I expect him to be right about, well, everything he says. Is it possible that he could be flat wrong about a subject as big and controversial as climate change?

Well, I'm going to claim agnosticism on this one. I really don't know if Epstein is as solid on climate science as the climate scientists who think differently than he does, or if in fact there are many climate scientists who share Epstein's views. I just finished reading this fascinating article by Epstein that goes into the subject in much greater detail: Richard Epstein on Carbon Dioxide That article presents far more nuanced views that he seems to express in the video, such that he comes across as more moderate on the issue than skeptical, per se. And the six point proposal he offers in the end is a must-read.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Richard Epstein on the Environment, the Sequester, and More

First of all, a reminder: Richard Allen Epstein will be doing an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit this March 20th from 10am-noon EST!!! Be sure to log in to Reddit.com/r/iama in time to ask the Smartest Person in the World anything you'd like!

Some new stuff from Richard lately:

His latest Libertarian podcast: Responding to Natural Disasters

His latest Hoover article: Now Hiring Ex-Cons

And the latest episode of Law Talk: Sequestered and Filibustered

All great stuff. The amazing thing is that no matter how much you listen to Epstein, he always manages to say something new in every talk. With most people after a while you've heard all their arguments, their favorite phrases, their go-to examples... but not so with Epstein. 

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Richard Epstein on Employment

Richard Epstein discusses the impact regulation is having on employment in his latest Hoover article: Is Employment a "Human Right"?

Also, a new Libertarian podcast episode! Regulating Labor Markets Podcast