Robert Wicks

I'm a husband and father of a lovely young lady. I am a libertarian who sometimes does Linux and SAN storage.

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

The president of Somaliland is set to arrive in Israel tomorrow, marking his first visit. Israel is the only country that has recognized Somaliland's independence.

[Stephan Kinsella @NSKinsella]

From a rant to friends:
My son and his gen are very stressed out about the future. They are irritated—the older generation mocks them for working Starbucks jobs, when that's all we left them. They have a point. It's sad. When I was 22-27 in the late 80s, early 90s, I was optimistic about the future (still am). Sad his generation doesn't have this

... the problem is we have had latent malinvestment combined with growing inflation caused by growing debt and increased reduction in economic productivity b/c of inflation and regulation and an increasing reliance by the US on its status as holder of the reserve currency and in effect, being allowed to export our inflation to others to use to fund our military and military industiral complex, so basically we are the world's navy paid for by the rest of the world absorbing our inflation IP parasitism.
This latent malinvestment is bound to lead to a correction and this has been becoming more and more inevitable for decades, and finally the current generation of young people is feeling it and seeing it. They are starting to resent their critics, their parents and grandparents, and of course the old people with 2 workers supporting 1 of them instead of 16-1 means this cannot last. At least I don't think it will last.

With this growing inequality and resentment, with additional dislocations caused by AI, and with the wane of the American empire and loss of the dollar status, I suspect that our hodge-podge of existing welfare, negative income tax etc. will slowly morph into a kluged version of Friedman's negative income tax, ie the BGI or BIG, UBI. But just like our hybrid socialized capitalist medical system, it will be the worst way to do it. I just hope AI and the robots save us--i.e. technology once again to the rescue.

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

https://t.co/81W3XBBYWj

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

@NSKinsella Freedom looks like oppression to those accustomed to privilege.

[Sean D Sorrentino @SorrentinoSean]

@SGTWipper1Each I managed enthalpy while fighting entropy and managing apathy in order to provide locomotion in the ocean while avoiding demotion.

[Sal the Agorist @SallyMayweather]

1 XMR giveaway sponsored by @trocador!

To enter, just like + RT. Winner announced live on air 4/22 🎙️

Tonight:

-Hoppe vs. Mises, breaking it down with @nskinsella
-Shining a light on the scam that is Tether
-The agorist take on tax day https://t.co/rWTCkhJIDL

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

@NSKinsella Alright snoop

[Stephan Kinsella @NSKinsella]

From a friend: "Why ChatGPT will dominate. Mindshare, along with the fact that it is both surveying future customers and shaping them at the same time."

My reply:

Another possible example of copyright helping to cause monopolies. Because, if not for copyright then many AIs could easily compete because they could all scrape whatever they want, including libraries, etc.--online archives (which would be plentiful if copyright had not already hampered them). (And there would be no copyright "black hole" for orphaned works https://t.co/LTH8xuV1Pl)

See Controls breed controls, Monopolies breed monopolies https://t.co/zwgwmcdyf2
Microsoft Copyrights –> Patent Dominance https://t.co/bDY4UMVgzm

@jeffreytucker @Lieboisout

[Doc Strangelove @DocStrangelove2]

Holy shit

1ShotTV replicated the P320 discharge.

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

https://t.co/nMvN4Avnwg

[Stephan Kinsella @NSKinsella]

A friend wrote me this:

https://t.co/S2ZWTcNaIK

"This guy is able to point out some of the problems well enough, but his obvious liberal bias comes out a few times. He blames lack of mental health support for a lot of the problems Denver faces, which I think is likely accurate but he never addresses why the explosion in mental health issues has occurred, which I think can be traced to pot legalization which I believe attracted a lot of people to the area who were already mentally ill and were susceptible to drug addiction and fell right into it when fentanyl hit the streets.
He completely ignores the elephant in the room, immigration, just between 2020 and 2024 Denver had 56,000 immigrants move here and nowhere to put them, many were low skilled and illegal and required loads of government assistance just for them to survive, costing so much money in housing and such that the city cut library hours, rec centers and whatnot just to support the illegals, and then the city had to raise taxes to cover the additional medical demands on the hospital which in one year saw 21,000 emergency room visits by newly arrived illegal aliens. The city also has to spend around 30 million a year just on English as a second language programs in the schools because so many kids show up unable to speak English at all (renamed ELL).
He also talks about traffic becoming a nightmare, which it is, but fails to point out that the city has been removing traffic lanes in favor of unused bike lanes all around Denver. He mentions parking, but failed to mention that the city just passed a new rule that removes the parking (already very loose) parking requirements on new housing."
nb @jeffreytucker

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

@SGgrc https://t.co/rJxWFiqGW2

[Stephan Kinsella @NSKinsella]

@profstonge I thought they would ban it too so in 2012 so made a bet about this with @real_vijay when it was like $6, that it would be under a dollar within a year for this reason. When it hit $30 later that year I realized I had lost and that I was wrong. Thanks for the ejumacation, Vijay.

[Stephan Kinsella @NSKinsella]

My recent paper on IP is probably my best one ever. I got Grok to analyze it. Fascinating tool. https://t.co/cgYb6vnjkY

There are actually 3 versions of Grok: the "light" version on your phone, the Twitter version, and the https://t.co/9qHqVFViWk version. The iphone/app version seems less powerful, but the two web-based versions are similar, though Grok told me there are some differences and indicated https://t.co/9qHqVFViWk is more powerful in some ways, but I cannot tell for sure. I assume they'll be unified eventually. Here are the two concise summaries each version prepared. Full analysis at the linked post.

https://t.co/9qHqVFViWk Concise Summary:

Stephan Kinsella’s The Problem with Intellectual Property (Papinian Press, May 15, 2025, pp. 1–32) argues that intellectual property (IP) rights, such as patents and copyrights, are unjust state-granted monopolies that violate legitimate property rights in scarce resources and should be abolished (p. 24). Grounded in libertarian principles and Austrian economics, Kinsella critiques IP’s moral (creationism), utilitarian, and contract-based justifications, asserting they conflict with self-ownership, original appropriation, and contractual transfer principles (pp. 8–20). He envisions an IP-free world where creators profit through market innovations like crowdfunding, citing examples like Louis C.K.’s DRM-free sales (p. 23).

Kinsella’s rigorous critique is compelling for libertarians, effectively dismantling IP’s foundations by highlighting its reliance on state legislation and incompatibility with property rights (p. 21). However, its call for abolition may not persuade non-libertarians who view IP as essential for incentivizing innovation, particularly in high-cost industries like pharmaceuticals, and the speculative nature of an IP-free world (pp. 21–24) could benefit from more empirical support. The paper’s CC0 license (p. 2) reflects its anti-IP stance, making it a provocative contribution to debates on IP in the digital age (p. 4).

Twitter/X Grok Concise Summary:

Stephan Kinsella’s paper, “The Problem with Intellectual Property” (Papinian Press, May 15, 2025), argues that intellectual property (IP) rights, such as patents and copyrights, are unjust state-granted monopolies that undermine legitimate property rights in scarce resources and should be abolished (pp. 3-24). Grounded in a libertarian framework, Kinsella critiques IP’s deontological (e.g., Lockean creationism), utilitarian, and contract-based justifications, asserting they violate principles of self-ownership, original appropriation, and contractual transfer by imposing nonconsensual restrictions on resource use (pp. 8-20). He envisions an IP-free world where competition drives innovation, citing examples like Louis C.K.’s DRM-free sales and Kickstarter-funded projects (pp. 21-23).

Kinsella’s argument is philosophically robust, effectively reframing IP as an infringement on property rights via the novel negative easement analogy (p. 11). However, its empirical support is thin, with limited data on IP’s costs or innovation impacts, and the dismissal of reform may alienate pragmatic readers (pp. 5, 14). While compelling for libertarians, the paper’s dense terminology and focus on abolition over nuance may limit broader appeal, particularly for industries like pharmaceuticals where IP incentives are significant (pp. 5-7, 21-23). It remains a valuable anti-IP contribution, best suited for Austrian economics enthusiasts.

n.b. @jeffreytucker , @micheleboldrin , @DKLDavidKLevine , @Lieboisout

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

https://t.co/x4ZV6fPRGW

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

@Wiltster

[Robert Wicks @bertwicks]

To Truly Fix Siri, Apple May Have to Backtrack on One Key Thing—Privacy | WIRED https://t.co/p0NGyu8h61 @SGgrc