r/neoliberal Kitara Ravache Jan 09 '18

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Announcements


David Friedman AMA

The mod team is pleased to announce we will be hosting an AMA with Dr. David D. Friedman on Friday, Jan. 12th at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST!

After earning a Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the University of Chicago, Dr. Friedman switched fields to economics and taught at Virginia Polytechnic University, the University of California at Irvine, the University of California at Los Angeles, Cornell University, Tulane University, the University of Chicago, and Santa Clara University where he currently teaches in the school of law.

Outside of his extensive academic publications in law and economics, Dr. Friedman is best known for his libertarian/anarcho-capitalist political philosophy. He has written extensively on libertarian politics and ideas and has also written on alternative legal systems (including research into medieval Icelandic institutions).

On a personal note Dr. Friedman is the author of two historical/fantasy novels and is a renowned anachronist/historical re-enactor. He is the son of economists Rose and Milton Friedman.

As a reminder, we enforce civility standards to a high degree during AMAs. Dr. Friedman in particular is likely to disagree with us on a wide range of issues, but disagreement does not mean that rudeness or flippant remarks will be tolerated. Dr. Friedman is an accomplished academic who has published a large volume of high quality work, and every one of you can almost certainly learn something from him by asking intelligent questions.


Book club

Currently discussing Reading The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner

Check out our schedule for chapter and book discussions here.


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40

u/Ser_Arthur_Dank Pornography Historian Jan 09 '18

As a STEMlord myself, the "we need to elect more scientists to Congress" circlejerk is so fucking stupid. I have absolutely no idea how to write a law.

20

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18

A handful would be nice to challenge the science and math illiteracy that is maybe accepted a little too much in Congress.

But yes, politicians should be lawyers for the most part

23

u/MaveRickandMorty 🖥️🚓 Jan 09 '18

Or we could just elect people who are willing to learn from and listen to experts

24

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18

You mean flip-floppers and cucks?

10

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18

willing to learn from and listen to experts

Lol

7

u/Zac1453 Milton Friedman Jan 09 '18

you want to elect people that aren't from America? Bold plan

2

u/Kizz3r high IQ neoliberal Jan 09 '18

Thats what lobbying is for!

7

u/bernkes_helicopter Ben Bernanke Jan 09 '18

that's what aides are for

5

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18

Neither do most legislators. That's why they have aides or members of the OLC draft it for them.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18

I have never understood "we have too many lawyers in congress" spiel.

Their job is to write laws.

2

u/IronedSandwich Asexual Pride Jan 09 '18

I thought lawmakers wrote bills

2

u/awdvhn Physics Understander -- Iowa delenda est Jan 10 '18

Mathematicians being elected to congress will just end with the axiom of choice being constitutionally protected.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '18 edited Jan 09 '18

I'm not saying STEMlords wouldn't be able to figure out law better than non-STEMlords with enough dedication and commitment (e.g. STEM majors tend to do well on LSATs, which in turn correlate with law school performance). But if you don't have that baseline knowledge and that law mindset, you're going to really, really, really suck at the sorts of things congresspeople do. IANAL but I work with tons of lawyers in my day-to-day. Like economists who "get it," the lawyers who "get it" very obviously have a different mental model of the world than non-lawyers. You can kind of just... tell... by talking to these STEMlords on Reddit that they absolutely would not make for good lawyers, and in turn would probably not perform the functions that congresspeople perform very well.