Libertarian Hollywood (An Oxymoron?!)

For whatever reason, I've heard discussions many times about the "most libertarian" movies. Most of the time the film adaptations of Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead are mentioned; I also hear Trey Parker and Matt Stone (being Libertarians themselves) movies South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut and Team America: World Police brought up frequently.

I, however, think the best example is the first Ghostbusters.

The movie starts with three academic researchers living off public university research grants while performing experiments with little to no scientific or societal value. They are finally fired and lament having to work in private industry, "where you're actually expected to produce!"

Pursuing the classic example of the American Dream, they take a new technology they developed themselves and stake their entire lives on a new private business based on this technology: the Ghostbusters. New York is experiencing an unprecedented increase in paranormal activity, and just as Adam Smith predicted, a free market solution to the problem appears because of the profit motive. The Ghostbusters rake in the cash.

But as most entrepreneurs can relate to, the government nearly ruins it all. And I mean it all. A well-meaning representative from the Environmental Protection Agency, hoping to protect the public from "noxious chemicals" used by the Ghostbusters, orders their containment unit shut down and the Ghostbusters thrown in jail. This has the side effect of releasing all the ghosts back into the city and nearly causing the apocalypse. It is only when the mayor sees that nobody else but the Ghostbusters can solve this problem can they finally defeat Zuul and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from destroying our dimension.

Ghostbusters has it all. It presents the innovation that the free-market encourages and the unintended consequences caused by good-hearted but misguided government bureaucrats in a comedic and action-packed manner. It is, in my opinion, the best libertarian movie ever.

A follow-up to yesterday's post: Kagan arguing it's OK for the government to ban books as long as they don't enforce it. Right....

Elena Kagan - Book Banner?

Elena Kagan is a frightening Supreme Court nominee for many reasons, but most specifically, because of her history of subverting the Bill of Rights to political motives. Reason Magazine brings up the specific example today of business influence on the political process. Although I disagree in general with the notion of a corporation as an individual, giving the government power to determine what is acceptable political speech and what is not. In a country where oftentimes private financing is the only method of unseating incumbent candidates, any restrictions to that financing can be seen as limiting public influence to change government. It may sound good in theory to limit corporate influence on elections, but it raises a host of disturbing questions. I would hope that a Supreme Court nominee would see the wisdom in erring on the side of caution when interpreting a document called "the Bill of Rights."

Elementary, Dear Watson?

I found this fascinating article from the New York Times (yes...I know...) about a machine IBM has programmed to play Jeopardy. I'm impressed with the success they've had; after all, Jeopardy's quirky and pun-filled clues wouldn't be easy for those without a sense of humor to play. But the business implications are interesting. Will in a few years the Watsons be cost-effective to install in minor businesses? I'm sure they will. But to insert a baseball analogy, what's the value over replacement? A business would need to have a customer service department, for example, of several people to even break even, and that's ignoring the human-interaction component that is tough to value, especially in an era of self-checkout and call-center menus that dehumanize business. Most of all, if anything, the internet has shown the importance of contextualized information, not the answers to specific questions. I think IBM might find greater success using this technology to present information in new, predictive, contextualized ways, rather than pigeonholing question-answering into specific and pre-existing business models. What do you think? Would you rather browse or find out exactly, and find it out now?

Everyone is leaving L.A.

Forbes has posted an interesting graphical representation of inter-county moves throughout the United States. Red lines represent migration away, while black lines represent migration to. Clicking on the filter for Los Angeles begs the question: am I crazy for having moved here? America says yes.

Follow me on identi.ca

For even more randomness from me, you can follow me on the micro-blogging service identi.ca. It's similar to Twitter, but open-source and therefore more community friendly. Read more at: Identi.ca FAQ.

Follow me here: climbingonroofs. I'm sure I'll be posting more about open source as time goes on.

First Post

After a multi-year hiatus, I've decided to get back into blogging. For those that don't know, I had a sort of proto-blog in college where I would comment on the world around me, from more-or-less a libertarian viewpoint. I intend to do the same, with hopefully the benefit of more maturity and better technology!

I'm starting my MBA in the fall, so also expect to see a number of postings relating to business, technology, and the new city I find myself in, the City of Angels.

I appreciate and encourage all comments and feedback. I'm hoping that this can also be another method of continuing discussion and repartee with those who I don't get to see often anymore. However, when I do post politically, I would ask that comments be intelligent and respectful, and I would prefer philosophical-based discussion, rather than going around and around on pet issues. Attitudes about issues should come from broader principle.

With that, we're off, and I will see you soon!