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Hey, I was discussing punishment and morality in Ancap society with my buddy. We begun to wonder whether it is ALWAYS immoral to initiate force against another individual. For example, if a person commits theft/murder/rape/assault, is it wrong to initiate force against that person after they have finished committing the act of aggression (I understand that if someone steals from you, you have every right to take that thing back, even if it involves force). If someone murders a member of my family is it immoral to seek retribution in form of initiating force against that person? I think that a lot of people would want to initiate force against that person under such circumstances, I think it's not entirely unexpected reaction, but is such thinking/emotional response compatible with Ancap philosophy or is such a person not considered an Anarcho-Capitalist? In summary: Is it always immoral to initiate force against another individual? Are there any exceptions? Can a person who wants or does initiate force against another individual still be considered an Anarcho-Capitalist, or is that incompatible with Ancap philosophy? Also, I want to throw one more question: Is punishment in Ancap society delivered only in form of social/economic ostracism as well as voluntary 'labour'?

Is voting the initiation of force through proxy? If voting makes you complicit to the governments immoral actions, (taxation at the point of a gun for example), then does an individual who votes have any 'right' to property rights. As an example, a lifetime government employee who votes has a savings account. The source of this accounts value is made entirely through the support and subsequent payment of and from government, a gang with a monopoly on violence. Does this person have property rights over the money or does it belong to the tax payers that it was stolen from (impossible to redistribute back). I guess the question follows, if you flipped the anarchy switch tomorrow, would this person have any moral claim over their cash?

Herd immunity as a result of vaccination get much focus in media these days. Almost every day I find various media-articles posted on Facebook about this, and especially the dangers of not using vaccines. The rethoric is very often "Those anti-vaccines-people, they should be forced to take these vaccines as it put all of us in danger.." I clearly see the importance of vaccines, and there are clear risks/dangers in not being vaccinated. Still,today there is also a "danger" in being named "anti-vaccine-idiot", conspiracy-theorist In my mind it is absolutely horrible to force people to get vaccinated. Though, I'm having trouble discussing this with people. Thoughts about this? I think Stefan should do a show about this. Call-in show, maybe ask to get some doctors online. This is a very hot topic right now, if i understand media correct.

As some make the claim that war and violence can lead to revolutions in technology and human organizations, I am going to propose the claim that it also prepares the human race against external threats. Namely, aLieNS. Here's why. When we meet aliens they will likely be aggressive. In fact, if we look at life on this planet as evidence, life seems to be pretty aggressive! Think about it. Complicated life forms need to eat other life forms in order to survive.That means most of the life on the planet has to be aggressive to others in order for its very survival. Like almost all of it! Almost every living thing is a savage beast devouring other life forms constantly........... So you really think aliens are going to FOR SURE be that cool? Not likely, from the evidence. Even if they have totally switched to using synthetics for their energy, I would still see the obvious evolutionary advantage to keeping an aggressive, opportunistic gene in the gene pool. War and violence and governments and large corporations and huge superpower forces of humanity all struggling against each other in a human eat human world might be our only chance to mature enough to deal with aliens. Most large scale animals are completely dominated, as is most vegetation and land mass. We have some issues with bacterial and viral forms of life but that's about it right now. But as a race? As a power in the universe? We are doing crazy good! We just took over a planet for crying out loud. One life form suddenly gaining dominance over most others would be a strain on any planet, we deserve a pat on the back. And we did this all by "aggression" towards the natural state of the planet. Otherwise we wouldn't even have food let alone shoes, cellphones and rocketships. Maybe being aggressive towards another is exactly what we need to harden and expand our power at this point. Unless we completely annihilate ourselves, we are the only thing left to challenge us. And as most capitalists would agree, competition breeds streamlined and effective systems. Which we will need when the aliens come.... It just doesn't seem like the NAP is a stable system, or that it even does any good for humanity as a struggling species. It only makes sense for small local systems that have no outside forces or ability to expand. Fortunately for us, we are starting to hit up the solar system for energy and resources so really we are in expansion mode. A bit of good old fashioned evolutionary brute competition might just be what the doctor ordered. grin As long as we don't end it all by accident first.

Hey hey, I recently had a conversation with my mother regarding the government. I was arging as that she is a christian and therefore dislikes theivery. I said the government takes her money forcefully and she has no say in it. Her response is that she gives the money to them willingly because every time she uses the roads she owes them money to finance the war against drugs & iraq/afghanistan. I told her if she did not give the money willingly they would take it anyway. She said she would give it willingly anyway and therefore its A-ok. Is it just me or is she an idiot? I told her she doesnt owe them the sweat off her back and that her money goes to evil causes. She wouldnt hear any of it and I should, "Find a new place to live". Anyone wanna jump on this and assist me in any way possible please? Thanks!

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/forcible-circumcision-turned-this-man-into-an-anti-circumcision-activist This cattle marking business is just sick, despite what people say about cosmetics, hygiene and all that, they always fight children.

Great book by Chalmers Johnson emplaining how and why republics turn from republics to empires. In particuallar America.