Ian Underwood

Ian Underwood is the author of the Bare Minimum Books series (BareMinimumBooks.com).  He has been a planetary scientist and artificial intelligence researcher for NASA, the director of the renowned Ask Dr. Math service, co-founder of Bardo Farm and Shaolin Rifleworks, and a popular speaker at liberty-related events. He lives in Croydon, New Hampshire.

Terrorism

The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as: The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. The more you look at our own government’s response to the COVID-19 virus, the better it … Read more

Sacrifice

‘We appreciate the sacrifices many have made throughout COVID-19 developments’,  said His Excellency at a recent press conference.  This makes me wonder if he knows what the word sacrifice actually means, and how to use it properly.

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How to talk about re-opening

Note that the discussion about how to ‘re-open the economy’ is happening almost entirely in the arena of whether some contemplated loosening of restrictions will be ‘good for us’ or ‘bad for us’.  What do the numbers say? Whose numbers? When will we feel safe enough to let people have some of their rights back? Which ones? To what extent?

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COVID-19 is killing science

A scientific question takes the form ‘If I make this change over here, what change happens over there?’  Anything else is a non-scientific question.  In particular,  engineering questions and moral questions are not scientific questions.

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Chrislam

Islam is the name of a religion, but it’s also just a word that means submission.  Islam the religion is complete submission to the will of Allah.   I think we need a new, secular word that captures a similar idea, which is complete submission to the will of His Excellency.  I suggest Chrislam.

The Licensing Trap

When you need a license from the state to pursue your livelihood, there are some hoops you have to jump through, some fees you have to pay, and maybe some special taxes.  But in return for all this, the state gives you protection.

Wait — surely I meant to say that it gives protection to your customers, right?  No, I mean that it gives you protection from other businesses, or individuals, who might want to compete with you.

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Emergency order will standardize clothing sizes

A source in Governor Sununu’s office has indicated that an emergency order will be issued in the next few days, setting a single size for pants, and another for shoes, to be adopted by all clothing retailers and wholesalers, thrift stores, tailors and other alteration services, dry cleaners, and laundromats throughout New Hampshire.

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Occupational licenses are the new draft cards

In the 1960s and 1970s, a draft card represented an unlimited claim on your freedom, and even your life.  If you had one, the government could, at its discretion, and without your consent, uproot your entire existence, until it decided to relinquish that claim.  Does that sound familiar?

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Quote of the day: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example … Read more

The Amazon Model of Schooling

Some of us who are carrying some extra pounds around can avoid thinking about it too much by wearing loose clothing, avoiding large reflective surfaces (like mirrors or plate glass windows), and generally imagining that things aren’t so bad.  Then one day, we have to see a doctor, so we have to get on a scale, and we can no longer avoid facing the fact that we’ve let things get completely out of hand.

That’s a lot like what’s going on with remote schooling.

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Mutual protection, not mutual exploitation

The NATO Treaty of 1949 is a remarkably short document — shorter than our Constitution — and the meat of it is in Article 5, which basically says:  An attack on any member is an attack on all the members, and all the members will come to the assistance of the member being attacked.

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Sunuxon? Nixunu?

I’m not sure whether he ever really said it, but I remember hearing President Nixon quoted as saying that the United States might have to ‘destroy Cambodia in order to save it’.  I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, because it appears that His Excellency is working from the same playbook — destroying New Hampshire in order to ‘save’ it.

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The Velveteen Brew Pub

There are several classic stories — The Velveteen Rabbit, Pinocchio, The Magic City — about toys that become Real.  This whole mess — not so much the virus, but government’s wild, flailing, spastic over-reaction to it — is providing businesses with an opportunity to become, in a similar sense, Real — but they will need help from the rest of us to do that.

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Why liberty?

There are a few ways to answer the question: Why liberty? There is, of course, Jefferson’s answer: That everyone is born with a right to liberty is self-evident.  Not as in ‘obvious’, but as in ‘requiring no justification’.

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Pro Tip for Remote Schooling

Many students — and their parents — have been caught off guard by the COVID-induced transition from on-site schooling to remote schooling.   However, there is a technology — which many students already have access to — that can help make up for the loss of classroom teaching time.  Let me describe what it is, and how it works.

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Do we need a plan?

What killed the USSR?  Lots of things, but the leading cause of death was its insistence on maintaining a ‘planned economy’.  Its leaders never understood, or just refused to believe, that millions of bright, creative, and motivated people, working individually and in spontaneous voluntary associations, would be able to come up with better solutions than a small group of government officials, even if those officials were among ‘the best and brightest’ people in the country.

That’s what will kill the US, too, if we let it.  Unfortunately, it’s what an increasing number of people are calling for.

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Say no no to Su nu nu

I’ve heard all the warnings about how bad things would be if Sununu hadn’t been elected, and how bad they will be if a Democrat ends up in the governor’s office.  But I simply can’t cast a vote for someone who says:  ‘I believe that public health trumps everything’.   Because if you take that seriously, it means that he does not believe in rights.

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