Kinsella On Liberty

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 383. I was an impromptu guest at the FreeTalkLive tent at PorcFest 2022 yesterday (June 23, 2022), with hosts Patrick Motorist and Tone Vays, discussing the Open Crypto Foundation, the Reno Reset, and related matters. Related: KOL274 | Nobody Owns Bitcoin (PFS 2019) https://youtu.be/v1E4i3od_T4?t=1954

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 382. I was an impromptu guest at the FreeTalkLive tent at PorcFest 2022 today (June 23, 2022), with host Mark Edge (and Aria) discussing corporations and limited liability, and also the recent "Reno Reset" at the Libertarian Party's 2022 Convention in Reno. Related: Corporate Personhood, Limited Liability, and Double Taxation Aggression and Property Rights Plank in the Libertarian Party Platform

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 381. This is my discussion with Eric John on Twitter Spaces, on June 18, 2022, about intellectual property—its genesis, common fallacies and misunderstandings, the labor theory of property, libertarian "creationism," and so on. We discussed ownership of information and touched briefly on ownership of bitcoin. Related: Against Intellectual Property (including Selected Supplementary Material) ——, “Against Intellectual Property After Twenty Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward” KOL274 | Nobody Owns Bitcoin (PFS 2019)

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 380. Tom Jump, of the TJump Youtube channel, had me on to discuss anarcho-capitalism and related issues. I was not familiar with him or what position he would be coming from; turns out he's a self-professed "centrist liberal" but was very intelligent, and surprisingly civil despite espousing some views completely contrary to libertarianism and my own beliefs. https://youtu.be/wRAJJC3TleI

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 379. This is my umpteenth appearance on the Tom Woods show: from Ep. 2145 Does Intellectual Property Exist? From his shownotes: Is it possible that we’ve been snookered into believing in a nonsensical concept? Is it possible to “own” an idea? Stephan Kinsella walks us through copyright, patent, trademarks, and trade secrets from a libertarian perspective, and also considers the utilitarian arguments for intellectual property. https://youtu.be/htD61sX9LkM Related: Against Intellectual Property “Against Intellectual Property After Twenty Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward" Against Intellectual Monopoly, by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine; click here for a PDF A Selection of my Best Articles and Speeches on IP “Legal Scholars: Thumbs Down on Patent and Copyright” “The Overwhelming Empirical Case Against Patent and Copyright” “Innovations that Thrive without IP” “Examples of Ways Content Creators Can Profit Without Intellectual Property” Do Business Without Intellectual Property (Liberty.me, 2014) (PDF)

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 378. [Note: I mistakenly posted this as a blog post instead of a podcast entry on March 28, 2022; please see comments on the original post here.] I had some exchanges with Voice of Reason in the comments section for a Mises.org article on IP a few weeks ago about intellectual property so we decided to have a discussion. Here it is. FWIW. (See the comments section of the Mises.org article titled Why Intellectual Property Isn't Necessary to Reward Innovation.) If anyone has links to the original thread send them on and I will include them. https://youtu.be/Rmeuh3L5NqU

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 377. I appeared last night (March. 15, 2022) on NWJ as we are considering a possible debate between me and David Friedman on the foundations of libertarianism. The original notion suggested was deontology vs. consequentialism but as I was not sure this is appropriate, we had a discussion about this. Along the way we discussed many other topics. Not sure if the debate will take place or makes sense, but this discussion was fun. https://youtu.be/C8JAZq_QYuo See Jose's subsequent discussion with David Friedman here. David discusses IP around 28 minutes. Also: David Friedman on Intellectual Property; and David Friedman on the “Problem” of Piracy; David Friedman on Copyright; David Friedman: Current Experiments in Self Publishing. https://youtu.be/yYzuAPpoj9g

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 376. This is my appearance on Unorthodox Libertarian Theology, with host Rajat Sirkanungo. We discussed a variety of issues. My copy: https://youtu.be/0Qv-ocKUkec His copy: https://youtu.be/CqfueRgLNNQ

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 375. This is my appearance on Ep.55 of Mentally Unscripted. Recorded Feb. 8, 2022; released Feb. 10, 2022. Transcript below. https://youtu.be/8SrUo79eiLk Related links: Examples of Ways Content Creators Can Profit Without Intellectual Property The Creator-Endorsed Mark as an Alternative to Copyright Do Business Without Intellectual Property (PDF) KOL 037 | Locke’s Big Mistake: How the Labor Theory of Property Ruined Political Theory Locke, Smith, Marx; the Labor Theory of Property and the Labor Theory of Value; and Rothbard, Gordon, and Intellectual Property Legal Scholars: Thumbs Down on Patent and Copyright The Overwhelming Empirical Case Against Patent and Copyright Libertarian Answer Man: Self-ownership for slaves and Crusoe; and Yiannopoulos on Accurate Analysis and the term “Property” Intellectual Property Rights as Negative Servitudes Where does IP Rank Among the Worst State Laws? Patent vs. Copyright: Which is Worse? On the 3D printing threat to patent law Copyrighting all the melodies to avoid accidental infringement | Damien Riehl (my comments debunking it on Facebook) Lost in Space: The Copyright Dilemma Monkey selfie copyright dispute David Koepsell, Who Owns You? The Corporate Gold Rush to Patent Your Genes (review; blog) Conversation with an author about copyright and publishing in a free society (re JK Rowling and Harry Potter movies) Prohibitions of anti-circumvention technology: Anti-circumvention (wikipedia) What is DMCA anti-circumvention? EFF Asks Appeals Court to Rule DMCA Anti-Circumvention Provisions Violate First Amendment From their shownotes: This week, Stefan and Scott welcome Stephan Kinsella to Mentally Unscripted. Stephan is a brilliant, articulate libertarian legal scholar who explains why the mainstream notion that intellectual property spurs innovation is wrong. He dives in by telling us why IP laws are simply government-issued monopolies that actually impede innovation. He explains why removing IP laws would make us more prosperous. And closes by discussing other innovative ways creators can profit without protectionist laws. As always, we're building a community around Mentally Unscripted. So, share this episode with your friends and interact with us at MentallyUnscripted.com. And remember, the conclusion you reach is less important than the process you follow to get there. Guest Information Stephan’s Website Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Libertarian Theory and Applications Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom Top Takeaways Intellectual Property (IP) is a body of law whose stated purpose is to protect a specific type of private property, such as inventions and creative works but is really a grant of monopoly power by the state. Instead of spurring innovation and creativity, the monopolistic nature of IP laws stifles new creative output. IP laws could be repealed today, and entrepreneurs would fill the void with new, innovative ways to earn money from their creations. Comments or Questions on this episode? Join the conversation at the Mentally Unscripted Substack. TRANSCRIPT "Transcript: Why IP Laws Destroy Innovation and How Creatives Can Profit Without Them" Stephan Kinsella, Mentally Unscripted (Feb. 10, 2022) 00:00:15 SCOTT GRAYSON: Hi there, everybody. My name is Scott Grayson, and you’re listening to Mentally Unscripted, the podcast where my cohost, Stefan, and I inspire you to think more clearly and have better conversations about the world. When you ride along with us, we’ll take you on a journey that will show you there’s always more than one way to look at an issue. You’ll learn to think critically about what you see and hear and how to challenge the narratives that those in power want you to believe. You won’t always agree with us, but that’s the point: to learn that we can have deep conversations and learn from each other no matter how different we are. 00:00:48 This week, I find myself outnumbered by Stephans as we welcome Stephan Kinsella to Mentally Unscripted. Stephan in a brilliant, articulate, libertarian legal scholar who explains why the mainstream notion that intellectual property spurs innovation is wrong. He dives in by telling us why IP laws are simply government-issued monopolies that actually impede innovation. He then explains why removing IP laws would make us more prosperous, and he closes out the podcast by discussing other innovative ways creators can profit without protectionist laws. As always, we’re building a community around Mentally Unscripted, so share this episode with your friends and interact with us at MentallyUnscripted.com. And remember, the conclusion you reach is less important than the process you followed to get there. 00:01:35 All right, everybody, this is Episode 55 of Mentally Unscripted, and this is a very special episode because I never thought in my entire life that I would be outnumbered by Stephans, and yet I am here. I’ve got two Stephans on the call with us. Fi

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 374. This is my appearance on Episode 1 of The Great Fiction Podcast, hosted by PraxBen and JungYin An. Recorded Jan. 3, 2022; released Feb. 4, 2022. This is the fourth or so podcast for which I was the first guest, the others being KOL078 | Lions of Liberty Podcast Inaugural Episode: Intellectual Property, KOL244 | “YOUR WELCOME” with Michael Malice Ep. 001: Intellectual Property, Prostate Cancer, and KOL347 | This Time I’m Curious Ep. 1: The Libertarian Movement, AI Rights, UFOs, Music, Movies, Alcohol. Youtube: https://youtu.be/i5p8wlu2xmQ Original youtube: https://youtu.be/-Mq5czGnhHQ

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 373. This is an audiobook version of my Against Intellectual Property. Narrated by RetroGames HQ. An earlier version is here: KOL008 | Against Intellectual Property (audiobook). Others audio versions of my work at https://stephankinsella.com/media/#audio-books. Youtube playlist; first Youtube: https://youtu.be/JCabAGM-e_s

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 372. Matthew Sands of the Nation of Sanity project (http://www.nationsofsanity.com/), which aims to promote the Non-Aggression Principle as a universal peace agreement, and I discussed various matters of libertarian legal theory, including the Rothbard-Evers title-transfer theory of contract versus contract as "binding promises" and the problem with the idea of "breach of contract"; and related matters such as burdens and standards of proof; civil vs. criminal law and the unity of the law; punishment, restitution and ostracism, and the like. (See previous episode with Matthew, KOL362 | California Gold #6, with Matt Sands: Defining Libertarianism, Anarchism and Voluntaryism.) Youtube: https://youtu.be/YzMSm9TdDRQ

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 371. This is my presentation (audio only) at the Austrian Economics Discord Conference: “The Enduring Importance of the Austrian School,” Austrian Economics Discord Server (Jan. 8–9, 2022). My presentation was “Law: Decentralized and Centralized" (Jan. 8, 2022). Other speakers included: - Jeff Deist - Walter Block - Peter Klein - Per Bylund - Patrick Newman - Jonathan Newman - Matthew McCaffrey Youtube: https://youtu.be/2_w1_9uQc74 Original Youtube Related links: Kinsella, “Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 11 (Summer 1995) Summary version: “Legislation and Law in a Free Society,” Mises Daily (Feb. 25, 2010) Another Problem with Legislation: James Carter v. the Field Codes (Oct. 14, 2009) KOL221 | Mises Brasil: State Legislation Versus Law and Liberty KOL368 | Legislation vs. Law, with Robert Breedlove, of the “What is Money” Show KOL199 | Tom Woods Show: The State’s Corruption of Private Law, or We Don’t Need No Legislature KOL001 | “The (State’s) Corruption of (Private) Law” (PFS 2012) KOL129 | Speech to Montessori Students: “The Story of Law: What Is Law, and Where Does it Come From?” Further resources: Is English Common Law Libertarian? (Powerpoint; PDF) Bruno Leoni, Freedom and the Law Watson, Alan, The Importance of “Nutshells” Herman, Shael, The Louisiana Civil Code: A European Legacy for the United States Giovanni Sartori, Liberty and Law Alan Watson, Roman Law and Comparative Law The Story of Law, by John M. Zane (I haven’t finished it yet but liked what read so far) (also online) Arthur Hogue, The Origins of the Common Law

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 370. This is my appearance in an "Ask Me Anything" for the Lib-Right League Discord Server, with host Logan. Recorded Jan. 6, 2022. We discussed a variety of topics. My youtube: Their youtube:

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 369. Whereupon I do the rare original episode. In November I debated Richard Epstein in New York, at the Soho Forum, on intellectual property (patent and copyright). My friend Greg Morin (website; Twitter; Mises) accompanied me and we had a great time in NYC. In this episode, Greg and I do a post-mortem about the debate and touch on IP topics I didn't have time to address in the main debate. Some pix below. Related links: KOL364 | Soho Forum Debate vs. Richard Epstein: Patent and Copyright Law Should Be Abolished KOL366 | NFTS, Soho Forum Debate, Intellectual Property, Etc. on Repeal the 20th Century https://youtu.be/1qpB7cvtpL0 Some photos from the NYC trip below:

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 368. This is my appearance on Robert Breedlove's What Is Money podcast, Ep. WiM099 (Youtube channel). We discussed legislation vs. (private) law—Centralized Law vs Decentralized Law, or as Hoppe refers to legislation, "democratic law-making". From Robert's Episode notes: "Stephan Kinsella joins me to discuss the nature of centralized law legislated by fiat in comparison with decentralized law discovered through the observation of human action across time." Youtube: https://youtu.be/msj6ReWhzkk Youtube outline/time stamps: 00:00:00 “What is Money?” Intro 00:00:08 Exploring the Meaning of Legislative “Law” 00:09:40 Possession is 9/10ths of the Law 00:16:43 Corruption in Law Making & Money Printing 00:20:30 Is Coercion Inherent to Fiat? 00:26:44 Bitcoin Replacing Fiat Standards? 00:30:00 The Basics of Human Action and Property 00:36:17 Is Bitcoin Property? 00:44:25 NYDIG 00:45:34 Does the Nature of Legal Disputes Change Under a Bitcoin Standard? 00:51:42 Custodial Aspects of the Fractional Reserve Banking System [see also my post The Great Fractional Reserve/Freebanking Debate] 00:57:49 Bitcoin Lending & the Threat of Rehypothecation 01:03:25 Does Bitcoin Disincentivize High Risk Human Action 01:08:37 Morality Under a Bitcoin Standard vs a Fiat Standard 01:18:11 Centralized Legislation Contributes to Uncertainty Related: Kinsella, “Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 11 (Summer 1995) Summary version: “Legislation and Law in a Free Society,” Mises Daily (Feb. 25, 2010) Another Problem with Legislation: James Carter v. the Field Codes (Oct. 14, 2009) The Great Fractional Reserve/Freebanking Debate (Jan. 29, 2016) Jesus Huerta de Soto's Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles, esp. ch. 1 (uses Roman law concepts to properly analyze fractional-reserve banking) KOL274 | Nobody Owns Bitcoin (PFS 2019) Paul Cantor, Hyperinflation and Hyperreality: Thomas Mann in Light of Austrian Economics

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 367. I appeared on Patrick Smith's Disenthrall channel (Disenthrall Youtube channel) to discuss and rebut—to fisk, really—an article by one "Strangerous Thoughts" from 2010 criticizing my IP abolitionism—or my "intellectual communism," as he called it. The main article is: The economic principles of intellectual property and the fallacies of intellectual communism; see also his related article The ultimate justification for natural and intellectual property. From Patrick's shownotes: I was linked an article calling my position on intellectual property communism. Let's dive in and see if I'm wrong and if we can learn something new with none other than the leader in libertarian intellectual property critiques, Mr Libertarian Heavyweight himself, Stephan Kinsella! Article in question: https://bit.ly/32d3WXZ For links to Support Us, Our Social Media, Video Platforms, Swag Stores, Discord Server, and way more check out our web site: https://www.disenthrall.me/platforms Patrick is one of the best podcast hosts/interviewers I've had, and he was excellent here. We crammed a lot of fisking into this 100 minute discussion, which was not easy since Strangerous purports to identify "17 fallacies" in my IP thought. Odyssee video: My backup video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Rt5weZMkeI0

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 366. This is my appearance on the Repeal the 20th Century podcast (Youtube channel). We discussed my IP debate at the Soho Forum (see KOL364 | Soho Forum Debate vs. Richard Epstein: Patent and Copyright Law Should Be Abolished and KOL369 | Soho Forum IP Debate Post-Mortem with Greg Morin), the basic case against IP (both natural rights/Lockean and utilitarian), problems with both, problems with Locke's proto-Marxian labor theory of property, patent, copyright, and trademark, defamation, plagiarism, attribution, fraud, property rights in "value," and "ownership" of NFTs and bitcoin. Youtube: https://youtu.be/vrJ-jQUrBjE Related links: KOL364 | Soho Forum Debate vs. Richard Epstein: Patent and Copyright Law Should Be Abolished KOL274 | Nobody Owns Bitcoin (PFS 2019) KOL 037 | Locke’s Big Mistake: How the Labor Theory of Property Ruined Political Theory KOL207 | Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Are Not About Plagiarism, Theft, Fraud, or Contract

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 365. My friend Walter Block, economics professor at Loyola University-New Orleans, asked me to give a guest lecture today (Dec. 8, 2021) for his Law and Economics course, on the topics of intellectual property. This is it. Transcript below. Youtube: https://youtu.be/PclRRN6podw TRANSCRIPT "Intellectual Property: Law and Economics: Guest Lecture Walter Block’s Law and Economics Class" Loyola University-New Orleans, Dec. 8, 2021 by Stephan Kinsella 00:00:00 WALTER BLOCK: Okay, it’s 12:37. We usually start the class with a moment of silence, so we’ll start the class with a moment of silence. 00:00:09 [moment of silence] 00:00:12 Okay, students, let me introduce you to my friend, Stephan Kinsella who is a lawyer in Houston, working in Houston, and he is, I would say, one of the preeminent libertarian theoreticians. So without any further ado, you’ve all read his paper, and he’ll go over it a bit and have a nice dialogue with you. So Stephan, start. 00:00:36 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Okay, can everybody hear me okay? What is this course? What’s the name of the course? 00:00:43 WALTER BLOCK: Law and Economics. 00:00:44 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Okay, Law and Economics. Okay, so I can touch on both. I think what I’ll do is I’ll try to speak around 25-30 minutes, and then open it up for questions. And if you guys have any questions while I’m speaking, I don’t mind if you interrupt me if there’s something I said that needs clarification or if I’m not clear. So feel free to interrupt me during it. Otherwise, you can wait until I’m done. 00:01:08 So I think what I’d like to do is kind of maybe explain how I got to my views and where the paper came from. Basically, I started practicing law and patent law around 1993-94, and I had been a libertarian for a long time, and I had been thinking about the intellectual property issue because I was not satisfied with the arguments in favor of it by Ayn Rand and others partly because these rights terminate at a certain time, and it just didn’t make sense to me. Like if it’s a natural right or real property right, why would it terminate? And then how do you know what the right length of time is? All those issues. 00:01:45 So I searched for a better argument thinking I’m a libertarian, and I’m a patent lawyer. I’d know more about it than anyone else. I’ll figure this thing out. And finally I came to conclusion right around the time that I started practicing patent law that all of intellectual property law is totally unjustified. And so I ended up writing that paper in 1999 or so, which is over 26 years now. In the meantime, I’ve come across other arguments, other data, other ways of presenting it, and although I think the original argument is still sound. So that’s where we are. 00:02:23 I think what I’d like to do is focus on two types of intellectual property just because of the time constraint, and those are the two most important and the two most damaging in my view, which is patent and copyright. The other types are trademark and trade secret, and then there are some other more recent types like mask work protection for semi-conductors and database rights in some countries and boat hull designs. And I would also include defamation law as a type of intellectual property because the arguments for it are the same, although in the law it’s not usually considered that way. 00:02:57 So let me first talk about the term. I do think the term intellectual property is a loaded term, and it’s as misnomer, but we’re stuck with it for now and what we want to talk about it because that’s the way it’s gone. Originally, the four main types of intellectual property, which are patent law, copyright law, trademark law, and trade secret law. They were all separate types of all. They had different origins. Trade secret originated in the common law. Trademark originated in the common law, although statutes have sort of replaced it. Patent and copyright purely originated in the statutes and legislation, and they all have different domains. 00:03:38 I’m going to give a quick history of patent and copyright. So you had a rough version of a proto-free market in Europe back in the 1500s, 1600s, some semblance of free trade, some semblance of property rights. Then – and at the time, the king and the church, in cahoots with each other, could control what their scribes – what books they would print by hand. So they could control what thought could be put down on paper and disseminated to the masses, so they had the practical ability to control thought. 00:04:19 When the printing press came around in the 1500s or whenever it was, Gutenberg’s printing press, that threatened this easy control by the state and the church of what could be printed. So the first thing the government did was, in England, they started the Stationers Company as a monopolistic guild, which had the monopoly on printing. So the government still could control what could be printed. 00:04:44 When the monopo

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 364. Email to Richard Epstein: Tension Between Takings Framework and IP Views This is my Soho Forum debate held Nov. 15, 2021, in Manhattan, against professor Richard Epstein, moderated by Gene Epstein. I defended the resolution "all patent and copyright law should be abolished" and Professor Epstein opposed it. Oxford debate rules applied which meant that whoever changed the most minds won. My side went from about 20 to 29 percentage points, gaining about 9; Richard went from about 44 to 55%, gaining about 11, so he won by 1.7 percentage points. Grok shownotes: In this Soho Forum debate held on November 15, 2021, in Manhattan, libertarian patent attorney Stephan Kinsella argues for the resolution that “all patent and copyright law should be abolished,” facing off against law professor Richard Epstein, moderated by Gene Epstein (0:00-10:00). Kinsella, drawing on his 28 years of patent law experience, contends that intellectual property (IP) laws violate natural property rights, stifle innovation, and distort culture by creating artificial scarcity on non-scarce ideas, using examples like baking a cake to illustrate how knowledge guides action without needing ownership (10:01-25:00). He critiques the utilitarian justification for IP, arguing it empowers patent trolls and corporate interests while limiting competition, and highlights IP’s historical roots in state monopolies, such as the Statute of Monopolies (1623), to underscore its statist nature (25:01-40:00). Kinsella’s passionate case frames IP as a harmful intervention that impoverishes humanity. Epstein, defending IP, argues that patents and copyrights are extensions of property rights, incentivizing innovation by protecting creators’ investments, though he acknowledges flaws in the current system (40:01-55:00). He counters Kinsella’s scarcity argument by suggesting that IP prevents overuse of ideas, using analogies like overfishing, and defends the constitutional basis for IP to promote progress (55:01-1:10:00). In rebuttals and Q&A, Kinsella reiterates that IP redistributes property rights unjustly, while Epstein emphasizes practical benefits despite imperfections, with both engaging the audience on issues like pharmaceutical patents and cultural impacts (1:10:01-1:30:15). The debate, governed by Oxford rules, saw Epstein win by changing more minds (11% vs. Kinsella’s 9%), but Kinsella’s arguments resonate with libertarians skeptical of state intervention (1:30:16-1:30:24). This lively exchange offers a rigorous exploration of IP’s philosophical and practical dimensions. My notes, a Grok detailed summary, and a Transcript, are below. Postmortem episode to follow. Update: See KOL369 | Soho Forum IP Debate Post-Mortem with Greg Morin. Note: Reddit forums discussing the debate. Youtube: https://youtu.be/Ep2-ohgFOys See Gene Epstein's note about Oxford debate rules at Soho Forum and the margin of error: GROK DETAILED SUMMARY Bullet-Point Summary for Show Notes with Time Markers and Block Summaries Overview Stephan Kinsella’s Soho Forum debate against Richard Epstein, held on November 15, 2021, tackles the resolution “all patent and copyright law should be abolished.” Moderated by Gene Epstein, the 90-minute debate pits Kinsella’s libertarian anti-IP stance, rooted in Austrian economics and property rights, against Epstein’s defense of IP as a necessary incentive for innovation. Kinsella argues IP violates natural rights and stifles competition, while Epstein sees it as an extension of property rights. Oxford debate rules determined Epstein as the winner by a narrow margin. Below is a summary with bullet points for key themes and detailed descriptions for each 5-15 minute block, based on the transcript at the provided link. Key Themes with Time Markers Introduction and Debate Setup (0:00-10:00): Gene Epstein introduces the Soho Forum, Oxford rules, and debaters, setting the stage for Kinsella vs. Epstein on IP abolition. Kinsella’s Opening: IP Violates Property Rights (10:01-25:00): Kinsella argues IP creates artificial scarcity, violates natural rights, and impedes innovation, using scarcity and action theory. Epstein’s Opening: IP as Property Extension (25:01-40:00): Epstein defends IP as incentivizing innovation, acknowledging flaws but arguing it protects creators’ investments. Kinsella’s Rebuttal and Historical Critique (40:01-55:00): Kinsella refutes Epstein’s utilitarian claims, tracing IP’s statist origins and highlighting its practical harms. Epstein’s Rebuttal: Practical Benefits of IP (55:01-1:10:00): Epstein counters with IP’s role in preventing idea overuse, defending its constitutional and economic value. Q&A and Cross-Examination (1:10:01-1:25:00): Both debaters address audience questions on pharmaceuticals, culture, and IP enforcement, sharpening their arguments. Closing Statements and Results (1:25:01-1:30:24): Kinsella and Epstein summarize, with Epstein winning by changing mor

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 363. I was interviewed by Caleb Brown on the topic of argumentation ethics and related matters. Recorded Oct. 29, 2021. Note: I mangled my friend Bogdan Dabrowski's name during the podcast, switching it around and Russifying it to Dobran Bogdanovitch or something like that. Mea culpa, Brother Bogdan! (some of his work is linked here: Bogdan Dabrowski, Mises’ Human Action & Hoppe’s Argumentation Ethics applied to Psychology, Philosophy Europe Convention, Cryptoanarchy Institute, Prague (Sept. 12, 2015); and Praxeological Psychology, 27 February 2013)

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 362. I was a guest on California Gold #6, with guest host Matthew Sands. From the shownotes: Stephan and Matt covered a wide variety of libertarian themes, including property rights, self-ownership, the Non-Aggression Principle, intellectual property, Hoppean Argumentation Ethics, Georgism, Objectivism, utilitarianism, deontology and much more. Stephan was hosted by Matthew Sands of the Nation of Sanity project (http://www.nationsofsanity.com/), which aims to promote the Non-Aggression Principle as a universal peace agreement, hosting for California Gold for the first time. https://youtu.be/_usiT5Z2JXY

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 361. A nice young man, self-described as "generally an anarchist? But also a statist (monarchist? ie 'the kingdom of heaven') in the spiritual sense" had some questions for me since he doesn't have a lot of people to bounce his ideas off of. I agreed to do it if we could record it, in case anything interesting came out of it. You be the judge. A variety of topics came up, primarily his interest in the problem of "oaths" as the root evil in the modern world, and related/other issues like the nature of contracts, usury as evil, Pournelle's "iron law of bureaucracy," Jesus, and the evils of the Uniform Commercial Code (something to do with Babylon), and Galambos. Transcript below. https://youtu.be/EEj137ADBzY TRANSCRIPT Libertarian Answer Man: Oaths: With Kent Wellington Stephan Kinsella & Kent Wellington Oct. 17, 2021 00:00:03 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Okay, hey, this is Stephan Kinsella, Kinsella on Liberty. This is another one of my episodes where someone asked to talk to me about something. And I said yes, if I can record it in case there’s anything of interest to listeners. So this is Kent Wellington who briefly informed me he’s not exactly a libertarian but just has some questions. I don’t really know what you want to talk about, but Kent, why don’t you introduce yourself, however you want to do it, and then we can start? 00:00:27 KENT WELLINGTON: Hey there. My name is Kent Wellington, and I just have been very anti-IP since I was a child really. And when I realized that Mr. Kinsella was the one who wrote one of my favorite books, Against IP, I was really taken aback. And then I was like, wow, I should reach out to him and just try to have a conversation with him because I’ve sort of been in the – what do you say – I’ve just been up in the towers on these topics for a long time, like my whole life. 00:01:14 And I’ve never – I never really get to talk about these topics with anybody one on one, and I just saw his – that he puts his email out there, so I was like, I’ll just email him, see if he’ll – he’s willing to talk to me for even a minute. So that’s what we’re doing right now, and I have some very different takes, I guess, what I think are some novel takes but maybe aren’t, and I’d love to be proven wrong, or I just wanted to throw some things at you regarding contracts, IP, anarchism, a few different things. Mainly, I guess my main hypothesis is – so I’m very into the quotes from Jesus on oaths, and I believe that, without – so I think that oaths are the key social mechanism of the state. Do you – what do you think about that? Are oaths not the key social mechanism of the state? 00:02:41 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Oaths? O-A-T-H? 00:02:44 KENT WELLINGTON: Yes, oaths, yeah. 00:02:46 STEPHAN KINSELLA: I’m not sure I know what that means. What do you mean? 00:02:51 KENT WELLINGTON: So oaths are – if you want to become a doctor in the US, at least a professionally recognized doctor, you have to take the Hippocratic Oath. Others are – so our whole professional society is filled with oaths, which are really these sort of mystical activities, and our secular world is filled with these oaths. To become a lawyer, you need to take the bar oath. To become a politician, you just swear in. You need to take an oath of office. There’s a bajillion oaths you need to take in modern society if you want to partake in modern society. 00:03:42 And so Jesus – and I’m not necessarily getting religious here. You can just say that in one of the most popular books in the world, which the Bible is, well, the biggest guy, the most important guy in the book, in the New Testament, Jesus, in his biggest speech, the Sermon on the Mount, he says take no oaths at all. Instead, just say yes or no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. So my interpretation of that is that anything beyond you giving your word, like if I invite you to my birthday party, and I give you the – I say, hey, can you come to my birthday party, you can say yes or no, or you can say maybe too. But anything beyond that, if I say, hey, well, will you swear on it, or hey, will you sign this contract, or hey, will you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. To me, that’s opening the door. That’s exactly what Jesus was saying. It’s opening the door for bad things to happen. 00:04:49 And to me, it’s what is the root cause of – it’s the potential root cause of all the bad things that happen with the state because – so like Jesus says, anything beyond this, anything beyond a verbal yes or no, it basically invokes – as I mentioned to you in an email, I’m also – I – so have you heard of Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy? 00:05:25 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Vaguely, but I don’t really remember. 00:05:28 KENT WELLINGTON: So he – so the law states that in any organization, over time, the bureaucracy will overtake the main organizational mission. So when you swear an oath or you have a contract or something, there

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 360. https://youtu.be/eC4g0vVepeI Isaac Funderburk sent me this email: Hello, Mr. Kinsella! I'm an economics student in Tennessee looking to get involved in the discourse around Austrian economics and libertarianism, particularly through culture change and academic organizations. Would it be possible to talk for a few minutes sometime this weekend or next week? I'm currently working with Turning Point USA as a social media manager and event organizer for a local ambassador, and I am involved with the Libertarian Party in the area. I've been familiar with Austrian economics for years now, but I had the good fortune to get an Austrian economics professor this semester and he has influenced me to pursue connections within the Mises Institute. I came across the many Mises Institute lectures and articles, and realized this is something I could get behind. I've recently spoken to Dr. Jonathan Newman, Mr. Jeff Deist, and Dr. Patrick Newman. I'm interested in understanding contract theory on a deeper level and found your lectures on intellectual property to be insightful. Would it be possible to arrange a brief phone call this week? Thank you for your time. We talked about college and what a libertarians goals should be, activism, careers, publishing, and economic and libertarian issues such as intellectual property. Related: Advice for Prospective Libertarian Law Students Reading Suggestions for Prospective/New Law Students (Roman/Civil law focus) (March 3, 2021)

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 359. Related: Structural Safeguards to Limit Legislation and State Power Constitutional Structures in Defense of Freedom (ASC 1998) Randy Barnett’s “Federalism Amendment”–A Counterproposal; and related posts How to Fix the US KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021) KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021) Libertarian Nation and Related Projects Update: See The Universal Principles of Liberty (Aug. 14, 2025) Libertarian Nation and Related Projects (cataloging various libertarian "free nation" and related projects) Update: there was already a union among the states, a loose confederation, based on a treaty, a compact--the Articles of Confederation. A convention was called to modify it. Instead the Convention staged a coup and produced a new central state in secret instead of simply amending the… — Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) December 1, 2025 "the Articles were never abolished. So the United States of America under the Articles still exists; I suggest the 13 original states revive the original USA by having their legislatures appoint its delegation members to the Congress of the Confederation; each State delegation gets one vote in Congress. Then the Congress can permit applications from the other 37 newer states and expand the size of Congress to 50 delegations. Then the new Congress of the Confederation can seek to abolish and disband the USA and the illegal Constitution." From the recently-concluded Fifteenth Annual (2021) Meeting of the PFS, Bodrum, Turkey (Sept. 16–21, 2021). For others, see the links in the Program, or the PFS YouTube channel, including the growing PFS 2021 YouTube Playlist. Additional media of the proceedings will be released presently. Also re-podcast at PFP231 | Stephan Kinsella, State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021). https://youtu.be/hPPC9OfzHgI For a similar talk, see KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021). The followup panel discussion later that day is here: Related: Structural Safeguards to Limit Legislation and State Power Constitutional Structures in Defense of Freedom (ASC 1998) Randy Barnett’s “Federalism Amendment”–A Counterproposal; and related posts How to Fix the US KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021) KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021) My notes are below: State Constitutions vs. The Libertarian Private Law Code Notes Stephan Kinsella Property and Freedom Society Annual Meeting Sep. 19, 2021 – Bodrum, Turkey Joke: I’ve prepared a libertarian constitution, and I hope to cover as much of its 18 parts and 45 pages as possible in the next half hour. Part I, Section A, Subsection 1: “Definitions.” Just kidding. I’m not going to read it. I haven’t even finished it yet. My wife said “is this what you geeks think is funny?” I said we’ll see. Half of them may be relieved, but some of them will be saying “Oh damn, I wanted to hear a Libertarian Constitution read to me.” Tell Hoppe Porcfest choking joke. I’m going to talk about the idea of constitutions and libertarianism—whether the idea makes sense at all. Since I’ve been a libertarian in the early 1980s, I’ve seen various utopian libertarian projects, many of them scams, most of them failures— [UPDATED list at Libertarian Nation and Related Projects] Tipolis—"creator, owner and operator of a global portfolio of International Cities characterized by a high degree of autonomy": Free private cities/charter cities movement Próspera—a charter city on the island of Roatán, Honduras (wikipedia; official site; Próspera's e-Governance Portal; Prospera legal code; Próspera ZEDE; Official ZEDE Statute, Unofficial English Translation, and Commentary) Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)—a special economic zone in Dubai adopting common law—wikipedia; Laws and Regulations in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC); The DIFC’s Affirmation of English Common Law into its Statutory Framework Principality of Seborga—village in Italy claiming micronation status cruise ship nations, now seasteading (Blueseed); Oceania—The Atlantis Project Same people: Project Lifeboat: “From the people who brought you the Oceania project so many years ago comes the Lifeboat project. An attempt to create a spaceship for the purposes of saving the human race from the singularity predicted by Vernor Vinge.” crazy guys homesteading abandoned oil rigs and declaring sovereignty; private justice, arbitration, and common law groups: The “Creative Common Law” project (Jamin Hubner), an anarcho-capitalist project in which I was enlisted as an advisor, only for it to later turn from “Creative Common Law 1.0: Anarcho-Capitalism” to “Crea

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 358. I was interviewed by Marc Victor and Andy Marcantel of the Live and Let Live project about libertarianism. https://youtu.be/N0Mqp9Di_z8

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 357. I was a guest recently on Peter Quiñones' show Free Man Beyond The Wall, Episode 631 (Sept. 15, 2021). From his shownotes: Pete and Stephan discuss the Constitutionality of Biden's vaccine mandate and then get into discussions about Hoppe's plan for local politics and how it can fight against overreach by the Feds. I post this from Bodrum, Turkey, at the 2021 PFS meeting, watching Saif Ammous talk about bitcoin. The internet is wonderful. Grok shownotes: In this episode of the Free Man Beyond the Wall podcast, host Pete Quinones welcomes back patent attorney and author Stephan Kinsella to discuss pressing libertarian issues, starting with Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate announced in September 2021 (1:00-3:39). Kinsella critiques the mandate as unjust and potentially unconstitutional, predicting a 60% chance it survives legal challenges, though it may be struck down as illegal under current OSHA rules. The conversation explores the broader implications of federal overreach, contrasting it with state-level responses like Florida’s resistance under Governor DeSantis, which Kinsella views as strategically preferable despite its own libertarian shortcomings (5:02-9:20). They also touch on the cultural mania surrounding COVID policies, with Quinones expressing shock at public compliance and Kinsella noting the temporary nature of these measures compared to enduring state injustices like war and taxation (15:01-20:05). The discussion shifts to deeper libertarian strategies, drawing heavily on Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s ideas of decentralization and covenant communities as a path to liberty (22:00-39:46). Kinsella advocates for nullification and secession as bold responses to federal mandates, emphasizing the importance of local politics and natural elites in fostering decentralized, voluntary societies (8:25-9:58, 44:42-47:37). They critique the left’s egalitarian chaos versus the right’s hierarchical order, aligning with Hoppe’s view of natural hierarchies as essential for a free society (41:15-44:37). The episode concludes with reflections on global COVID responses, particularly Australia’s authoritarian measures, and the potential for secession movements in the U.S. as federalism persists (30:58-36:04). Kinsella and Quinones also briefly address contentious libertarian topics like intellectual property, abortion, and borders, underscoring the need for anarchist solutions to resolve these intractable issues (49:19-50:38). Transcript and grok analysis/summary below. https://youtu.be/jFYMO6wzO8c Transcript 0:00 people people people richard Grobe is starting season six of his autonomy 0:05 course and you really should be there i don't think I could have gotten through the last 16 months of this world without 0:14 the skills that Richard Grove gave me so head on over to freemanbyondtheall.comutonomy 0:22 check it out there's two links there one's to an overview of the course another is to a 19 skills PDF download 0:29 go check out that video sign up for the course and get on Richard's level thank 0:35 you [Music] 0:49 [Music] 1:00 hello everyone i want to welcome you to the Free Man Beyond the Wall podcast this is your host Pinz i invited Stefan 1:06 Consella to return to the show stefan is a patent attorney and he wrote the book 1:13 against intellectual property i asked Stefan to come on and answer some 1:19 questions about Joe Biden's mandate how constitutional he thinks it is what he 1:25 thinks is going to happen with it does he think that states are going to nullify it and then we're just going to 1:31 start talking about a host of subjects we're going to get into some hapa we're going to get into some local politics 1:38 and we just get into a conversation like we normally have when we're talking by ourselves 1:44 so without any further delay here is Stefan Canella 1:49 canella my man how are you doing i'm doing well how you doing good man let's just jump right in because you are I am 1:57 so jealous of where you are leaving to go tonight uh you want to tell everybody i'm heading tonight to uh Bodum Turkey 2:05 through Istanbul with uh several of my friends are going too greg Moran from 2:10 Atlanta and Juan Carpio from Ecuador u who you know I think you met some 2:15 Anthony Samuroff um is going too and lots of Sedina Moose is going um of 2:21 course Hans will be there ho will be there so uh yeah this may be my 10th time we started this in 2006 I believe i 2:30 missed a few because of kid issues but um we missed last year of course because of COVID so I think it's a truncated 2:36 group this year because of COVID we'll see when I get there it could be smaller more intimate but anyway I'm I'm looking forward to it cool making plans for next 2:43 year wish I was one of that group okay so let's just jump right in what are you 2:48 making of this mandate last week that Biden came up

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 356. I was interviewed by Caleb Brown on the topic of IP--explained what it is, its origins, how it's a type of crony capitalism, and how it emerged historically and acquired the name "intellectual property." Recorded Sep. 4, 2021. https://youtu.be/E4_oafovCyY

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 355. I was a guest today (Aug. 20, 2021) on The Bitcoin Group. https://youtu.be/cZXCDRpXVCQ Shownotes: Featuring… Joshua Scigala (https://twitter.com/Vaultoro) Dan Eve (https://twitter.com/cryptopoly) Stephan Kinsella (https://twitter.com/NSKinsella) and Thomas Hunt (https://twitter.com/MadBitcoins) THIS WEEK: Crypto Price Prediction: Bitcoin Could Be About To Soar To $100,000 And Ethereum To $5,000 As Cardano And Solana Suddenly Surge https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybam... Cade Cunningham Partners With BlockFi, Will Be Paid Sign-on Bonus in Bitcoin - The Street Crypto: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency news, advice, analysis and more https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/bitc... US Mortgage Giant To Accept Bitcoin This Year, Considers Other Cryptocurrencies https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-mor... Coinbase will buy $500M in crypto and invest 10% of all future profits in digital assets https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinba...

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 354. Related: Libertarian Answer Man: Restrictive Covenants and Homeowners Associations (HOAs) Libertarian Answer Man: Restrictive Covenants, Reserved Rights, and Copyright KOL479 | Co-Ownership Revisited: Property Rights, Exclusion, Contracts, and Edge Cases, with Nick Sinard KOL354 | CDA §230, Being “Part of the State,” Co-ownership, Causation, Defamation, with Nick Sinard Libertarian Answer Man: Corporations, Trusts, HOAs, and Private Law Codes in a Private Law Society Libertarian Nicholas Sinard asked me to field some questions about the referenced issues, so we did so. Update: some of these issues also discussed in Libertarian Answer Man: Restrictive Covenants and Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and Libertarian Answer Man: Restrictive Covenants, Reserved Rights, and Copyright. https://youtu.be/54pMdixfWTI Relevant links: No, Libertarians, We Should NOT Abolish the CDA §230 and DMCA Safe Harbors! Hello! You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act Hello! You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Intellectual Property Is Macy’s Part of the State? A Critique of Left Deviationists Michael Rectenwald, Who Really Owns Big Digital Tech?: "By now it should be perfectly clear that the most prominent Big Digital companies are not strictly private, for-profit companies. As I argued in Google Archipelago, they are also state apparatuses, or governmentalities, undertaking state functions, including censorship, propaganda, and surveillance." Walter Block, "A Libertarian Analysis of Suing for Libel," LewRockwell.com (Sep. 5, 2014) Causation and Aggression (with Patrick Tinsley), The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, vol. 7, no. 4 (Winter 2004): 97-112 Jeffrey Tucker, Backdoor Censorship through Libel Law; Techdirt Podcast Episode 266: In Defense Of Section 230 & A Decentralized Internet A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability, Journal of Libertarian Studies 17, no. 2 (Spring 2003): 11-37 Hoppe on Property Rights in Physical Integrity vs Value “Aggression” versus “Harm” in Libertarianism Youtube transcript as cleaned up by Grok: Transcript: Stephan Kinsella and Nick Sinard Discuss CDA 230 and Libertarian Issues Stephan Kinsella (0:02): Okay, hey, this is Stephan Kinsella with a different edition of Kinsella on Liberty. One of my internet acquaintances, Nick Sinard—is that the right pronunciation? Nick Sinard: Yes. Stephan Kinsella: He's joining us. You wanted to chat about something today. I forgot what it was. I did two Tom Woods episodes last week, and things are blending together, so I'm forgetting what we were gonna talk about, but I'll let you bring up whatever you want. Go ahead. Introduce yourself too, if you don't mind. Nick Sinard (0:29): I'm just Nick Sinard, been a libertarian for like eight years. I got a few businesses and stuff, but maggotsnicksart.com, you know, I put some libertarian stuff up on there, but it's been a while since I've updated it. Stephan Kinsella (0:50): For some reason, I thought you were a foreigner, an outsider, a Frenchman or something with that name, but you sound Southern to me. Nick Sinard: Yeah, it is French, but yeah. Stephan Kinsella (1:01): What state are you in or from? Nick Sinard: Tennessee, close to the Great Smoky Mountains. Stephan Kinsella: Alright, two Southerners on the line then. Let's try to keep the IQ level, the total IQ level, above 100 if we can. It'll be a challenge, I know. Now, I guess I want to talk about mostly three things I think are all pretty interrelated. One you're starting to see more is that libertarians are starting to act like or say that Facebook's a part of the state. Nick Sinard (1:26): Oh no, yeah, I see that more. Stephan Kinsella: Another one I think that's related is kind of the Section 230 thing, or even libertarians will bring that up. And then I've seen, it's not as popular as it used to be, but terms of service violations as aggression. I've seen a few libertarians make that, but I think that's just confusion on liability and contract. Nick Sinard (1:50): I haven't heard that one too much. Stephan Kinsella (1:58): I don't recall ever hearing that terms of service are aggression. You could argue that they're not a binding contract, and I think there are good arguments for that. Nick Sinard (2:04): Well, I'm just saying, on that one, I've seen people say, well, you know, Facebook or Twitter didn't follow their own terms of service, so someone has the right to force them to do. Stephan Kinsella (2:18): Oh, right, yeah, that's a confusion of libertarian property and contract theory. That's true. But I guess start with the first one, which is the most popular one I've seen talked about on a few shows, actually, and many people in the Mises C

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 353. Some twitter users were confused about IP and whether stealing someone's document from their safe implied damages greater than stealing a blank document, and whether this difference implied IP, etc. So I did an impromptu zoom and a few people joined to ask questions about this and other matters. Unpolished. Enjoy. https://youtu.be/NzXyZb9XaR4

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 351. I was a guest host for the Tom Woods Show, Ep. 1941 (released July 29, 2021) while he is out sick. Shownotes: Guest host Stephan Kinsella talks to Shane Hazel about his growing awareness of liberty and Austrian economics while in the Marines in Iraq, his run for Senate on the Libertarian ticket in 2020 in Georgia and his role as “spoiler,” his future plans to run for Governor of Georgia, and his proposals to fix the broken criminal justice system. Additional shownotes: Podcast: RADICAL with Shane Hazel Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShaneTHazel 11 questions for Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Shane Hazel PEAKd — video & live-streaming platform on HIVE https://youtu.be/zsKZO5VxZfw

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 350. While at FreedomFest 2021, Gene Epstein (of SOHO Forum) and I discussed intellectual property and other libertarian matters on the Pauls to the Wall podcast. Recorded July 23, 2021; released July 25, 2021.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 349. Streamed live on Jul 13, 2021. Stephan and Joshua Smith sit down to talk Intellectual Property, Hans Herman Hoppe, and heavyweight debates (on "heavyweight", see tweet posted below). (Afterhours chat here: KOL462 | CouchStreams After Hours on Break the Cycle with Joshua Smith (2021)) Grok shownotes and Youtube transcript below. https://youtu.be/w9t-HD5J2xY Excerpt: Stephan on the NAP https://youtu.be/kbW57Ca9kNk Join the patreon at https://patreon.com/breakthecyclejs Join Subscribestar at https://Subscribestar.com/breakthecyc... Tips at https://paypal.me/JoshuaSmithChair2020 available on all of your favorite podcast apps. https://toplobsta.com for dope gear. https://lorenzotti.coffee for delicious Italian coffee thank you to Whiskey Grenade for the great jams. Support the stream: https://streamlabs.com/fightthedespots Discussed: Disinvited From Cato Twitter post below: I think you should realize you are talking to a heavyweight and should be grateful I am devoting a few minutes to you, and take advantage of it, and be respectful and not a punk. That's what I think. — Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) September 9, 2020 GROK SHOWNOTES Show Notes for KOL349 | CouchStreams Ep. 58 with Joshua Smith Episode Overview: In this episode of Break the Cycle (originally aired on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/w9t-HD5J2xY), host Joshua Smith interviews Stephan Kinsella, a former Ludwig von Mises Institute scholar, founder of the Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom, and author of Against Intellectual Property. The discussion covers Kinsella’s journey to libertarianism, his staunch opposition to intellectual property (IP), the impact of patent laws on industries like pharmaceuticals, and his thoughts on emerging libertarian trends like post-libertarianism and Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s philosophy. The episode is packed with insights into libertarian theory, legal systems, and practical implications of IP laws, interspersed with lively audience engagement via super chats. Segment 1: Introduction and Kinsella’s Background (0:00–14:56) 0:03–1:06: Intro music and Joshua Smith’s opening remarks, welcoming listeners to the show. 1:06–2:28: Smith introduces the episode, plugs sponsors (lorenzotti.coffee, toplobsta.com, anthemplanning.com), and expresses excitement about the guest. 2:28–3:29: Smith introduces Stephan Kinsella, highlighting his Mises Institute background, founding of the Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom, and his book Against Intellectual Property. Kinsella confirms he’s COVID-free after contracting it at Porcfest. 3:29–6:09: Kinsella shares his journey from electrical engineering at LSU to becoming a patent lawyer and anarcho-capitalist. He explains how his interest in libertarianism developed in high school, complemented by his legal training, particularly in Louisiana’s unique Roman law-influenced system. 6:09–9:02: Discussion shifts to Louisiana’s distinct legal system, rooted in French and Spanish civil law, contrasting with common law systems elsewhere in the U.S. Kinsella notes its influence on his libertarian legal scholarship. 9:02–14:56: Smith recounts his experiences running for Libertarian Party chair and his shift to a more confrontational online presence. Kinsella discusses his own brash online style, emphasizing bluntness for efficiency and dismissing insincere arguments. Segment 2: Intellectual Property and Copyright Issues (14:56–29:03) 14:56–18:05: Kinsella outlines his core argument against IP: it violates libertarian principles by granting others control over your property without consent, akin to a non-consensual negative easement. He compares this to physical trespass or battery. 18:05–21:00: He elaborates on the harms of IP, including how copyright stifles free speech and patents hinder innovation, impoverishing society by slowing technological progress. 21:00–23:37: Smith brings up pharmaceutical patents, and Kinsella critiques the “unholy alliance” of patents, FDA regulations, and tort systems that inflate drug costs and prioritize artificial drugs over natural remedies. He references Dr. David Martin’s work on coronavirus patents, suggesting profit motives intertwine with government mandates. 23:37–26:13: Super chat questions touch on vaccine magnetism (a jest) and patent waivers for COVID vaccines. Kinsella debunks the notion of China “stealing” U.S. IP and questions the timeline of vaccine patents, noting patents typically take years to issue. 26:13–29:03: Discussion of Martin Shkreli’s case, where Kinsella clarifies it was an FDA-granted monopoly, not a patent, that allowed price gouging. He notes Shkreli’s actions exposed systemic flaws, though he was vilified for it. Segment 3: Open Source, Right to Repair, and Post-Libertarianism (29:03–43:56) 29:03–32:02: Kinsella addresses open-source software as a counterexample to claims that copyright is necessary for profit, but critiques “copyleft” licenses that rely on cop

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 348. I sat down with my friend Aaron Voisine, of BRD (formerly Breadwallet), to discuss how the average worker/saver would invest and save in a Bitcoin world. Would they hold some stocks? Real estate? Bonds? Or would they keep close to 100% of their savings in cash, as many bitcoiners seem to assume? And related issues. I doubt people would keep most of their savings in cash since they would chase higher returns and also diversify away from some risks unique to monetary assets. Voisine dissents. I have questions, not answers, while Voisine thinks he has answers. Kinsella, Aaron Graham, Aaron Voisine, Juan Carpio, at Bitcoin 2021, Miami Kinsella, Aaron Lasher, Aaron Voisine, Aaron Graham, Juan Carpio, chilling during Bitcoin 2021, Miami https://youtu.be/g24jBL81vQ8

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 259-2. Recorded Feb. 8, 2019. On Feb. 8, 2019, I delivered a talk at the New Hampshire Liberty Forum in Manchester NH: KOL259 | “How To Think About Property”, New Hampshire Liberty Forum 2019. While there I was a guest on the Vin Armani and Dave Butler (of Vin and Dave's Destination Unknown podcast) livestream of the Free State Project's New Hampshire Liberty Forum, Day 1 -- we discussed government versus the state, intellectual property, and related issues. Youtube below. I left in the cool "New Hampshire" song on the video excerpt below, but trimmed most of it out for the podcast feed. https://youtu.be/1yvHTPs9Gmw Full episode featuring other guests:

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 347. My appearance on a new youtube channel, This Time I'm Curious (TTIC) with Jesse Munson, Episode 1 (recorded July 4, 2021). We talked about a variety of topics -- the history/evolution of libertarianism and my involvement in it, Ayn Rand, the Ron Paul movement, animal rights, AI consciousness and AI rights, artificial meat, quantum mechanics, UFO's, music, movies, guilty Youtube pleasures, Objectivism, The Fountainhead, Kinsella's place in the libertarian movement, alcohol addiction, etc. https://youtu.be/a8fli8AbNXY

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 346. I was a guest on the Tatiana Show, with host Tatiana Moroz. (Released July 1, 2021, recorded June 30, 2021). Transcript below. Youtube: https://youtu.be/GX2QolLvPSE Original youtube: https://youtu.be/HSIIzKGk_aw From her shownotes: COPYRIGHT & SATOSHI’S LEGACY WITH STEPHAN KINSELLA OF THE OPEN CRYPTO ALLIANCE On June 29, 2021, a UK court found that Australian computer scientist Craig Wright is the proper copyright owner of the Bitcoin Whitepaper, awarding initial damages in excess of $48,000 to Wright and demanding that Bitcoin.org remove the Whitepaper from its site. Guest Stephan Kinsella of the Open Crypto Alliance joins Tatiana today to talk about the decision and why it reveals all the most troubling problems with the government-run patent, trademark & copyright system. He discusses the background of the case and the personal financial interest that he believes is driving Wright’s copyright trolling campaign. And he also gives his own thoughts on Bitcoin, blockchain technology, smart contracts and more. If you like the program, subscribe today via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! About the Guest: (Norman) Stephan Kinsella is an attorney and libertarian writer in Houston. He was previously General Counsel for Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., a partner with Duane Morris, and adjunct law professor at South Texas College of Law. A registered patent attorney and former adjunct professor at South Texas College of Law, he received an LL.M. (international business law) from King’s College London-University of London, a JD from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU, and BSEE and MSEE degrees from LSU. He has spoken, lectured and published widely on both legal topics, including intellectual property law and international law, and also on various areas of libertarian legal theory. Libertarian-related publications include Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe (co-editor, with Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Mises Institute, 2009); Against Intellectual Property (Mises Institute, 2008); and Law in a Libertarian World: Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Papinian Press, 2021). Forthcoming works include Copy This Book: The Case for Abolishing Intellectual Property (Papinian Press, 2022). Kinsella’s legal publications include International Investment, Political Risk, and Dispute Resolution: A Practitioner’s Guide (Oxford, 2020); Online Contract Formation (Oceana, 2004); Trademark Practice and Forms (Oxford & West/Thomson Reuters 2001–2013); World Online Business Law (Oxford, 2003–2011); Digest of Commercial Laws of the World (Oxford, 1998-2013); Protecting Foreign Investment Under International Law: Legal Aspects of Political Risk (Oceana Publications, 1997); and Louisiana Civil Law Dictionary (Quid Pro Books, 2011). Kinsella is a co-founder and member of the Advisory Council for the Open Crypto Alliance (2020–), a member of the Editorial Board of Reason Papers (2009–), a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Molinari Review (2014–), a member of the Advisory Board of the Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield) series Capitalist Thought: Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (2013–), Founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom (2010–present), and legal advisor to LBRY (2015–). Previously, he was Founder and Executive Editor of Libertarian Papers (2009–2018), a Senior Fellow for the Ludwig von Mises Institute (2009–2013), a member of the Advisory Council of the Government Waste and Over-regulation Council of the Our America Initiative (2014–2017), Book Review Editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies (Mises Institute, 2000–2004), a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Peace, Prosperity & Freedom (Liberty Australia, 2012–2016), a member of the Advisory Panel of the Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS) (2009–2012), and served as Chair of the Computer Law Subcommittee of the Federalist Society’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. More Info: Tatiana Moroz – https://tatianamoroz.com Crypto Media Hub – https://cryptomediahub.com Open Crypto Alliance – https://opencryptoalliance.org Stephen Kinsella – https://stephankinsella.com TRANSCRIPT Copyright and Satoshi’s Legacy with Stephan Kinsella of the Open Crypto Alliance Stephan Kinsella and Tatiana Moroz The Tatiana Show, June 30, 2021 00:00:01 [intro music] 00:00:17 TATIANA MOROZ: Hello everybody, and welcome to this last-minute special edition of the Tatiana Show. I’m here with Stephan Kinsella. He is a patent attorney and a libertarian writer, and we just ran into each other at PorcFest, so I wanted to catch up about that and then get to this breaking news about Satoshi being Craig Wright, which I don’t even know what to say about all that. So you probably know something about that. We actually had you on the show before. You were talking about some of these kind of patent trolls in blockchain. But befor

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 345. Related: Structural Safeguards to Limit Legislation and State Power Constitutional Structures in Defense of Freedom (ASC 1998) Randy Barnett’s “Federalism Amendment”–A Counterproposal; and related posts How to Fix the US KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021) KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021) Libertarian Nation and Related Projects Update: See The Universal Principles of Liberty (Aug. 14, 2025) and Libertarian Nation and Related Projects (cataloging various libertarian "free nation" and related projects) This was my talk delivered today (June 26, 2021) at PorcFest 2021: "Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution,” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code." The notes that I roughly followed are below; pix also below. Transcript below. For a related talk, see KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021) Youtube https://youtu.be/hK6LyjRvvCk This is the video with better audio added after from my iphone recording, with the help of Jacob Lovell. Below is the original with passable audio https://youtu.be/6qzJXBWLhTA Related: Structural Safeguards to Limit Legislation and State Power Constitutional Structures in Defense of Freedom (ASC 1998) Randy Barnett’s “Federalism Amendment”–A Counterproposal; and related posts How to Fix the US KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021) KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021) The description from the PorcFest website (which will probably disappear at some time in the future): Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” —————– When: Sat, 12:00P _(60m) Speaker: Stephan Kinsella {Website} {Pic}, An American intellectual property attorney and Austro-anarcho-libertarian writer and speaker for 25 years. He has spoken, lectured and published widely on various areas of libertarian legal theory such as rights theory, anarchism, contract theory, intellectual property, and on legal topics such as intellectual property law and international law. His legal works include International Investment, Political Risk, and Dispute Resolution: A Practitioner’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2020) and Louisiana Civil Law Dictionary (Quid Pro Books, 2011); his libertarian writing includes Against Intellectual Property (Mises Institute 2008) and the forthcoming Law in a Libertarian World (Papinian Press, 2021). Forthcoming works include Copy This Book: The Case for Abolishing Intellectual Property (2022), and a systematic, codified statement of libertarian principles as an alternative to constitutions and committee-prepared political platforms. For Whom: Constitutionalists; secessionists; Federal reformers; decentralists; polycentrists; anarcho-capitalists. Description: State constitutions, including the US Constitution, are not libertarian. The purpose of the US Constitution was to establish a new, powerful, central state, not to protect individual rights. Efforts to draft “libertarian constitutions” are also often flawed, as when they presuppose and legitimate a state or a territory owned by a single owner (Liberland). Does the idea of a “libertarian constitution” make sense? What kind of codification or statement of libertarian principles is appropriate? {More} Where: Anth: Anthem Theater, OfficeBld ❧ TRANSCRIPT Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code Stephan Kinsella PorcFest 2021, Lancaster NH June 26, 2021 00:00:01 W: … published by the Mises Institute in 2008 and the forthcoming Law and the Libertarian World. So Stephan, I’ll let you take it away about state constitutions. 00:00:10 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Okay. Thanks a lot. If you can’t hear me, let me know. I have no mic. I speak kind of loud and kind of fast even though… 00:00:17 W: If we need to turn it up we can, so let us know. 00:00:19 STEPHAN KINSELLA: All right, so my talk is – I’ll explain the title as we get into this: Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution.” So I prepared a libertarian constitution, and I hope to cover as much of its 18 parts and 45 pages as possible in this next hour. So part one, section A, subsection 1: definitions. I’m just joking. I’m not going to read my constitution. I haven’t even finished writing it yet. I read this to my wife and she said, Is this what you geeks think is funny? I said we’ll see. I said half the people in the audience might be relieved, but the other half might be, damn, I really wanted to hear a libertarian constitution read to me point by point. 00:01:03 I’m going to talk about the idea of constitutions and libertarianism and whether the whole idea makes sense at all. So I’ve been a libertarian since about 1982, and I’ve seen so many libertarian – utopian libertarian projects that I can’t even

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 344. This is my appearance with Adam Terrell of the Theocracy podcast: 022 Copyrights Are Unlawful with Stephan Kinsella (recorded May 7, 2021). From his shownotes: Now, some of you know I have a background in media production. And I have gotten royalty checks and benefitted from a copyright "tradition" (I don't call it law) on multiple occasions, and I have family who have had their entire livelihoods supported by it. So how can I say in the title that "Copyrights Are Unlawful?" Stephan Kinsella is my guest today. I found him through Tom Woods's podcast years back, and I've run in to his talks at Mises University online several times. He's a patent attorney who has helped me think through these issues practically relating to intellectual property and why it doesn't exist. I believe there is a Bible verse I can point to as well in Exodus, but we'll get to that. We get in to some less-than-settled issues as well. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/07enqNJEVY2HS2dV62CtRr Youtube: https://youtu.be/ml_yZqTtlWM

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 343. This is an IP and libertarianism Q&A. It was originally supposed to be a debate with an intellectual property attorney on IP but after challenging me, she bowed out. I went live at the appointed time anyway and discussed it briefly, and fielded questions from those that tuned in. We started off in Youtube live stream and because it sucks, I switched over to a Zoom call 34 minutes in so others could ask questions and participate (next time I'll use Zoom only). This started when someone on Twitter recommended my Against Intellectual Property: https://twitter.com/lpky/status/1402789745407807488 To which one @libertascoco responded with this snipe: https://twitter.com/libertascoco/status/1402820244851154945 It later turned out that she is be soi-disant IP attorney Nina Prevot, whose Youtube channel is here and who has discussed and ham-fisted, ineptly attempted to defend IP here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNq5J7YoBOo Then she challenged me to a debate, after falsely claiming I never debate people: https://twitter.com/libertascoco/status/1402993126915010567 I instantly took her up on it: https://twitter.com/NSKinsella/status/1402995267234779144 But she ended up backing out so I went online at 7pm anyway. The main reason I was willing to debate her was to let observers see how weak her arguments would be, and to confirm my repeated claim that “There are No Good Arguments for Intellectual Property” (see also “Absurd Arguments for IP”). Anyhow, I went online as noted above and discussed IP and other libertarian issues with the audience. This one was not as tight as most of my material, and I thought it was a bit sloppy and all over the map, but many of the participants seemed to enjoy it, so here it is, FWIW. Youtube of the discussion: https://youtu.be/G0_3ffxzHz0 Cade Share, "A Defense of Rothbardian Ethics via a Mediation of Hoppe and Rand"

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 342. The Bitcoin2021 audience Thanks to the good offices of my friend Vijay Boyapati, author of the new book-length version of The Bullish Case for Bitcoin, the organizers of bitcoin2021 in Miami, June 4-5 2021, graciously gave me two minutes to make an announcement about the Open Crypto Alliance (@OpenCryptoX) and its work, on Saturday June 5. I was introduced by Charlie Shrem. Transcript below. Youtube: https://youtu.be/-ns4R3Y41Lw Note (4/20/22): The video above was taken down by a copyright strike from Bitcoin Magazine (ironically). They have promised to restore it, but in the meantime, here is the backup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVDNEnRAZU4&t=15865s Kinsella and Vijay Backstage with my copy of Vijay's Bullish Case for Bitcoin TRANSCRIPT Bitcoin2021 Announcement: Open Crypto Alliance Stephan Kinsella Bitcoin2021, Miami, June 5, 2021 My name is Stephan Kinsella and I'm a libertarian theorist, patent attorney, and patent abolitionist. I'm a member of the Open Crypto Alliance, recently formed to combat the growing threat to the bitcoin and blockchain ecosystems posed by patents being filed in this space, by companies such as nChain, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, and others. nChain, for example, has over 20 European patents already granted, and hundreds more filed and pending and about 23,000 blockchain and crypto patents have been filed in the last couple years. These patent filings are of grave concern to those of us in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Our partner group, Square's Crypto Open Patent Alliance, or COPA, addresses this problem by having members pledge never to use their crypto-technology patents offensively. However, this is of limited use against patent trolls and patent holders who are not members of the alliance. Our group, the Open Crypto Alliance, is focused on preventing abusive patents from being granted in the first place by trying to knock these patents out. We do this by identifying dangerous patents, finding prior art that the patent office should have considered, and submitting a challenge to the patent. We are actually working on our first challenge and we're seeking help from experts who have a deep understanding of elliptic curve cryptography. If anyone would like to help, please contact us at www.OpenCryptoAlliance.org Thank you.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 341. This was a webinar I did for an Argentinian audience for ESEADE May 26, 2021. The topic was formally "Should We Release Patents on Vaccines" ("¿Hay que liberar las patentes sobre las vacunas?"). In this talk, I briefly provide an overview of the nature of property rights and the principled case against IP, then apply it to vaccines, and took questions from the audience. Grok shownotes: In this webinar hosted by ESEADE on May 26, 2021, Stephan Kinsella, a prominent libertarian thinker and patent attorney, delivers a compelling case against intellectual property (IP) rights, focusing on the question of whether patents on vaccines should be released (0:00-6:05). Kinsella begins by outlining libertarian property rights, rooted in the Austrian School’s emphasis on scarcity and human action, arguing that property rights apply to scarce, physical resources, not intangible ideas (6:06-16:35). He critiques the utilitarian justification for patents, asserting they create artificial scarcity, hinder competition, and fail to deliver the promised innovation, using the vaccine patent debate as a case study to illustrate how patents restrict access to life-saving technologies (16:36-27:05). Kinsella’s libertarian framework emphasizes that ideas, being non-scarce, should be freely shared to maximize societal benefit, challenging the notion that patents are necessary for progress. Kinsella further dismantles the patent system by examining its historical roots in state-granted monopolies and its practical flaws, such as encouraging wasteful litigation and redundant research (27:06-37:50). He argues that vaccine patents, particularly during a global health crisis, exemplify the harm of IP by limiting production and access, proposing that abolishing patents would enhance innovation and availability (37:51-48:20). In the Q&A session, Kinsella addresses audience questions on trade secrets, the morality of IP, and the role of government in vaccine distribution, reinforcing his stance that a free market unburdened by IP would better serve humanity (48:21-1:02:42). He concludes by urging listeners to reject IP as a state-imposed distortion, advocating for a world where knowledge flows freely to drive progress (1:02:43-1:03:12). This lecture is a concise yet thorough exploration of libertarian principles applied to a pressing real-world issue. [Update: See also FDA and Patent Reform: A Modest Proposal; “Patents, Pharma, Government: The Unholy Alliance,” Brownstone Institute (April 1, 2024), Kinsella, "Are Patents Needed to Make Up for FDA Kneecapping?" (July 2, 2011).] Transcript and Grok DETAILED summary below. Youtube: https://youtu.be/EgYS8ldQ_AY Original video: https://youtu.be/-mjc7ZjYQ0o GROK SUMMARY Bullet-Point Summary for Show Notes with Time Markers and Block Summaries Overview Stephan Kinsella’s ESEADE webinar, delivered on May 26, 2021, addresses the question “Should We Release Patents on Vaccines?” while presenting a broader libertarian critique of intellectual property (IP). Using Austrian economics and libertarian property rights theory, Kinsella argues that patents, including those on vaccines, impose artificial scarcity on non-scarce ideas, stifling innovation and access. The 63-minute lecture, followed by a Q&A, combines theoretical insights with practical examples, advocating for the abolition of IP to foster a free market. Below is a summary with bullet points for key themes and detailed descriptions for each 5-15 minute block. Key Themes with Time Markers Introduction and Libertarian Context (0:00-6:05): Kinsella is introduced as a leading libertarian thinker and patent attorney, setting the stage for his critique of IP and the vaccine patent debate. Property Rights and Scarcity (6:06-16:35): Explains libertarian property rights, emphasizing that only scarce, physical resources warrant ownership, not ideas, which are non-scarce. Critique of Patents’ Utilitarian Basis (16:36-27:05): Argues that patents fail to promote innovation, creating monopolies that restrict competition and access, especially for vaccines. Historical and Practical Flaws of Patents (27:06-37:50): Traces patents to state monopolies and highlights their inefficiencies, like litigation costs and redundant research. Vaccine Patents and Market Solutions (37:51-48:20): Applies the critique to vaccine patents, advocating for their abolition to increase production and access in a free market. Q&A and Broader Implications (48:21-1:02:42): Addresses audience questions on trade secrets, IP morality, and government’s role, reinforcing the case for abolishing IP. Conclusion and Call to Action (1:02:43-1:03:12): Urges listeners to reject IP as a statist distortion, promoting a free market driven by knowledge sharing. Block-by-Block Summaries 0:00-5:00 (Introduction and Context) Description: Host Juan Ignacio Ibañez introduces Kinsella as a prominent libertarian thinker, pat

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 340. "Watch as Benjamin Politics, Bleu Politics and Mencius Kuang interview well renowned economist Stephan Kinsella" (Jan. 12, 2021) Youtube: https://youtu.be/WUmObXbAVTA Original: https://youtu.be/Z3kcgDPM5BE

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 339. This is an audio version of my Foreword to Chase Rachels' A Spontaneous Order, narrated by Graham Wright. https://youtu.be/aRSLyEukURs

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 338. Update: See also KOL463 | Contracts, Usury, Fractional-Reserve Banking with André Simoni and this Grok analysis of various problems with smart contracts including the fact that most loans are unsecured. From Human Action Podcast Ep. 308, "Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty with Stephan Kinsella" (May 27, 2021), with Jeff Deist, discussing Rothbard’s Ethics of Liberty, chapters 9, 13, 19, et pass. (PDF). Shownotes: Lawyer and legal theorist Stephan Kinsella joins the show as we dive into Part II of Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty, grappling with the foundational issues of crime, proportionality, and contract. When is property justly held? When may injuries to a person or property be addressed with force, and how much force? How do we deal with one another contractually, in terms of promises and expectation? How do we resolve disputes privately? Rothbard presents a remarkable exposition of a theory of liberty, a normative justification for laissez-faire which was sorely lacking. Kinsella does a remarkable job of explaining Rothbard's concepts with force and clarity, so you won't want to miss this episode! Transcript below. Youtube: https://youtu.be/AkEdMTDrPfY Raw video (unedited): Related Links Rothbard on the “Original Sin” in Land Titles: 1969 vs. 1974 (Nov. 5, 2014) KOL146 | Interview of Williamson Evers on the Title-Transfer Theory of Contract A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability, Journal of Libertarian Studies 17, no. 2 (Spring 2003): 11-37 A Libertarian Theory of Punishment and Rights, 30 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 607-45 (1997) Fraud, Restitution, and Retaliation: The Libertarian Approach KOL197 | Tom Woods Show: The Central Rothbard Contribution I Overlooked, and Why It Matters: The Rothbard-Evers Title-Transfer Theory of Contract Justice and Property Rights: Rothbard on Scarcity, Property, Contracts… KOL004 | Interview with Walter Block on Voluntary Slavery TRANSCRIPT Rothbard on Punishment, Property, and Contract Stephan Kinsella with Jeff Deist The Human Action Podcast, Mises Institute May 27, 2021 00:00:08 JEFF DEIST: Kinsella, you ready, Freddy? 00:00:09 STEPHAN KINSELLA: I’m ready. I guess I can take my mask off. 00:00:12 JEFF DEIST: What is it? I can’t see. What’s it got on it? 00:00:16 STEPHAN KINSELLA: V for Vendetta. 00:00:17 JEFF DEIST: Oh yeah, yeah. 00:00:19 STEPHAN KINSELLA: I got it backwards. That’s why. 00:00:21 00:00:24 JEFF DEIST: I love that movie. I like Stephen Fry generally, and it’s got a very young, cute Natalie Portman. 00:00:30 STEPHAN KINSELLA: She had her day. 00:00:31 JEFF DEIST: Before she was in all those – I think she was in Star Wars movies at some point. 00:00:35 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Yep. 00:00:37 JEFF DEIST: And then she became sort of a Hillary person. 00:00:41 STEPHAN KINSELLA: True. 00:00:42 JEFF DEIST: All right, we good, Clay? 00:00:44 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back once again to the Human Action podcast. If you have been following along—you should be following along—you’ll know that we’ve been working our way through some various Rothbard texts in the past few weeks. And at some point we announced that we are going to tackle The Ethics of Liberty, which, after Man, Economy, and State might be the most treatise-like or full-length work of Rothbard’s for our purposes. 00:01:09 And we started the analysis of this book last week with Dr. Walter Block. We went through part one of the book, which deals in natural law. If you haven’t seen that show, be sure and go back and take a look because it’s got a lot of Walter Blockisms, and we wrestled with a lot of things conceptually in that show. But part two of the book where Rothbard lays out a theory of liberty is really the meat of it. 00:01:32 And I thought there would be nobody better for our purposes this week than our friend, Stephan Kinsella who is, of course, someone most of you probably already know or are familiar with. He’s not just an IP lawyer. Of course he’s written the definitive text, Against Intellectual Property. But he’s also written quite a bit about libertarian law more generally, the idea of when is force permissible, what is proportionality, what is contract, what is property, all of these things we wrestle with. 00:01:57 And Stephan, I guess by way of welcome, it’s interesting to me that Rothbard is writing this book in the’70s, comes out around ’82. I mean you think all this stuff would have been settled by 1500 or so. I mean we’re still talking about this stuff in the ‘80s. And now we’re talking about it in the 2020s. 00:02:14 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Yeah, and in a way, Rothbard was – he was lucky that he came in at the time where there was lots of low-hanging fruit. I think that’s one reason he made so much progress, but I always feel like the libertarian movement, the modern one, really started around Ayn Rand and that crowd in the ‘50s. So it was relatively new when Rothbard was writing

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 190-2. Also podcast as PFP145. In 2015 I delivered this talk: “On Life without Patents and Copyright: Or, Who Would Pick The Cotton?” at the Property and Freedom Society, 10th Annual Meeting, Bodrum, Turkey (Sep. 13, 2015), which is here: KOL190 | On Life without Patents and Copyright: Or, But Who Would Pick the Cotton? (PFS 2015). This is the subsequent panel discussion with Q&A from the speakers for that day, to-wit: Hans-Hermann Hoppe, David Dürr, Stephan Kinsella, Frank van Dun, Anthony Daniels (Theodore Dalrymple). Transcript below. Panel discussion video: TRANSCRIPT Panel Discussion, Q&A: Hoppe, Dürr, Kinsella, van Dun, Daniels (PFS 2015) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, David Dürr, Stephan Kinsella, Frank van Dun, Anthony Daniels Property and Freedom Society, 10th Annual Meeting Bodrum, Turkey (Sep. 13, 2015) 00:00:23 HANS-HERMANN HOPPE: Somebody approached me with a wish – it was a question, if email addresses would like to be shared. I did not want to do anything without the people’s permission, so there will be a list at the front desk where you can maybe – the name list of all the participants where you can either write your email address in there or not if you prefer not to make your email address known to others. So whoever is interested, please take advantage of the opportunity, and David Durr wanted to make a brief announcement too. Give the microphone. 00:01:17 DAVID DÜRR: Maybe first concerning also the email address, I was asked by some of you whether I could send you these slides of this morning so you could look at it closer with all the writings. So my email address to just give it to you is D-U-E, double R at swisslegal in one word, swisslegal. This is the name of our law group, dot C-H. And then may I add this? Some people ask me whether what I gave in the speech is also somewhere written in an article. So there are not long and thick books of me yet on this matter. I do have two books here. They are not as sophisticated and scientific as the one of Hans. And namely they are not so English. They are German. 00:02:27 One is (indiscernible_00:02:29) which means state opera. Switzerland, you know, the state as a big opera. It’s the state house actually as opera house, and the subtitle is Few Stars, Many Startists. So this is one – I just have one copy of each if you want to look at this, those who read English, or if you want to buy it or order it, so it’s here. The second one is I have a regular column in a newspaper in Switzerland, and these are sort of anarchic – anarchist columns, and the collection of this is in another book. They are always on Fridays in that newspaper, so it’s “Das Wort zum Freitag,” the world to the Friday, not to the Sunday as usual, to the Friday, so this is the second book. Thank you. 00:03:31 Q: Which newspaper is it? Which newspaper? 00:03:33 DAVID DÜRR: It’s called Basler Zeitung. It’s a – people say it’s a right-wing newspaper. They are very open in that they have, through all parties, columnists, but I like the newspaper as such, but I’m very independent. I had one column once when I compared IS or ISIS with US. I said, well, actually it’s about the same thing. US is just bigger, and that gave huge protests from the newspaper itself. And then this gave me an opportunity just to put one on the top because right afterwards these CIA reports came up about torture practices. That was a wonderful example to insist on it anymore. 00:04:41 00:04:49 Q: Okay. My question is for Stephan Kinsella. It’s a question, not an argument. What is the case for private photos and pictures shared over the internet on Facebook and someone else is using it? What is the argumental basis on that from the IP perspective? 00:05:13 STEPHAN KINSELLA: What’s the justification for using someone else’s? 00:05:15 Q: Using, or do they need our permission, without permission? What is the case for… 00:05:20 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Do you mean under current law or under libertarian system? 00:05:23 Q: Under – both. 00:05:24 STEPHAN KINSELLA: Well, under current law, copyrights – photographs are owned by the photographer, and if you put it online you still own the copyright, but you’re giving a license for people to use it for limited purposes like doing it on their browser. If you use it beyond that, unless there’s a creative common license attached to it, you could be sued. And the perverse aspect of copyright – let’s suppose you’re on vacation and you hand your iPhone to a stranger and he takes a picture of your family. He owns the copyright but you don’t know who he is, so you have this great picture, and you may be infringing his copyright when you put it on your Apple TV. 00:06:02 And there’s other perverse aspects of copyright. There are cases where there’s – someone takes a photograph. They have a copyright in the photograph, and it becomes a best-selling print or something like that. And someone else will go to the same location and recreate the photo by t

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 337 (May 23, 2021).This is my appearance on Join the Wasabikas: A Bitcoin Privacy Podcast, Ep. 15.0, with Max Hillebrand. Update: See also thoughts on the nature of money, the barter problems solves, etc., in: KOL402 | Austrian Economics Discord Conference: Inflation: Its Causes, Effects, Parallels and Death in a Bitcoin World Am I a Bitcoin Maximalist? On the issue if why money needs only solve these problems, and why the idea of smart contracts as one of the useful features of functions of an advanced money is confused, see: my facebook post https://www.facebook.com/nskinsella/posts/10158404058053181; comments on this in LIBERTARIAN ANSWER MAN: Smart Contracts and KOL401 | Sazmining Twitter Space: Bitcoin & Property Rights. Transcript below. From the shownotes: Stephan Kinsella is an incredible scholar of the Austrian school of praxeology, his major contribution is the advancement of the arguments in favor of property of scarce goods, and against intellectual property of non-scarce goods. He applies his in depth wisdom to how Bitcoin can be explained in this view. We discussed a variety of topics related to bitcoin, property rights, Austrian economics, and so on. Shownotes for the full episode: Stephan Kinsella is an incredible scholar of the Austrian school of praxeology, his major contribution is the advancement of the arguments in favor of property of scarce goods, and against intellectual property of non-scarce goods. He applies his in depth wisdom to how Bitcoin can be explained in this view. Watch all Highlights Watch all full episodes Website: https://WasabiWallet.io Blog: https://blog.WasabiWallet.io Documentation: https://docs.WasabiWallet.io GitHub: https://github.com/zkSNACKs/WalletWasabi Podcast: https://anchor.fm/Wasabikas YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/WasabiWallet Full episode on Youtube: My version (with professionally prepared captions): Wassabikas version: Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction. / Scarce vs non-scarce goods. 02:38 Stephan's background. / What property rights should be. / Intellectual property. 06:50 Why do we need property rights for scarce resources? / Praxeology: the logic of human action (Mises). / Assignment of an owner to anything that could be contested. / You own your body. / Homesteading. / Patents and copyright. 13:43 The purpose of law. 14:46 The definition of scarcity. / How much is the abundance of a good tied to its actual scarcity? / Superabundance. / Rivalrous or conflictable resources. / Production. / Dispute. 19:48 How to behave towards the aggressor. / Rules that promote peace. / Appeal to norms. 22:57 Retribution of the victim. / Empathy and evolution. / Being part of a community. / Crime is impossible to eradicate. 26:24 Entropy. / Creation is more difficult than destruction. / Defence is easier than offence. 27:48 What is the qualitative difference between retribution and pre-emptive defence? / Non-aggression principle. / Punishing people is expensive. / Restitution. 31:36 Juristic/legal ownership vs economic ownership. / Right to use vs ability to use. / Self-enforcing systems. / Ownership vs control. 33:48 Why don't you own the private key? / You can't own information. / Information is always the impatterning of a substrate. / Information is a feature of the owned thing. / Ownership can only be applied on physical things. 39:26 Craig Wright wants a property right over other people's computers. 40:41 Non-scarcity in cyberspace. 42:21 Using cryptography to enforce access rights. / Money is rivalrous. / Money has a network effect. / Bitcoin mimics real-world scarcity. / The purpose of money. / Non-coincidence of wants. / Economic calculation. / Any amount of money will do. 47:38 Absolute scarcity in the monetary medium. / Sacrifice. / Low supply. Low stock-to-flow ratio. / Gold vs Bitcoin. 50:11 Permissionless write-access to a central ledger. 53:43 What defines the absolute scarcity of gold? / Why did gold become money? 56:31 You verify that a transaction is valid based on the rules to which you opt in. / Verify the sacrifice of someone else. / Everyone is verifying according to the same rules. 58:54 Divisibility of bitcoin and sidechains. / Consensus. 01:02:22 The way users will act in the context of hard-fork. 01:03:03 Is the "digital gold" metaphor misleading. 01:04:47 A system bordering on chaos but thriving. 01:05:31 Being one of the founding fathers' of America. 01:06:24 Theft is a correlative of ownership. / Bitcoin has no terms of service. 01:08:02 Fear of losing keys. / Personal responsibility. 01:09:51 An extra-terrestrial/solar civilisation. 01:11:07 Intergalactic mining. / Energy. / Latency. 01:13:36 Correlation between civilisation and efficient energy usage. 01:14:46 Alignment between the morals of society and the rules of Bitcoin. 01:15:54 What if a better Bitcoin comes along? / Productive assets. 01:17:24 Is Bitcoin the best money that humans will ever experience? 01:

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 336. From April 22, 2021. "Here I interview the great Stephan Kinsella and discuss whether or not patents and intellectual property are actually a good thing. We get into philosophy, practical advice, and more." Related links: C4SIF.org Resources A Selection of my Best Articles and Speeches on IP Do Business Without Intellectual Property

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 335. I was interviewed by Paul Kramer of the Youth in Policy Podcast. Youtube highlights version below: