A friend asked how things were going. I said great, busy, just waiting for the next shoe to drop. The reply was “I hope things stay good.” They never do, I said. We face entropy. But that’s also a sign of life. Then I had to explain what I meant:
It’s the second law of thermodynamics: disorder always increases. That’s why the universe is headed toward grayness and heat death. Whenever you use energy, you increase disorder overall. Cool a room with AC and you heat up the outside even more. It’s always net negative.
Life is an island of order in a universe where disorder keeps increasing. Earth, and every living thing on it, keeps its order at the cost of more disorder elsewhere. So life is always a triumph of order over disorder. In a sense, it’s a miracle. (This is part of my own attempt to prove God exists–it’s a bad argument like all the others, but better than most I am aware of: the fact that we enjoy life means we get something “for free” which is in a sense a type of miracle, since you never have to “pay it back” since you would prefer to have lived than not; unlike when you cool a room and there is a cost in the form of increased outside entropy. So you get to live for free, defying the natural order of the universe, sort of a miracle.)
The human condition is the same. It’s always a struggle, where success and profit are possible, and so are loss and failure. Profit isn’t the natural state of things either. That’s why, if you profit, competitors move in and your profit erodes unless you keep innovating.
This is why anti-consumption environmentalists are confused. Production and consumption, like profit, go against the grain of nature. When we manage to carve out a little oasis of life and prosperity despite life’s challenges, we should celebrate it, not condemn it with calls to consume less, recycle more, and so on. Those ideas are ultimately anti-life. Wherever there is life, or order, it comes at the cost of increasing disorder overall.
A friend asked how things were going. I said great, busy, just waiting for the next shoe to drop. The reply was “I hope things stay good.” They never do, I said. We face entropy. But that’s also a sign of life. Then I had to explain what I meant:
It’s the second law of thermodynamics: disorder always increases. That’s why the universe is headed toward grayness and heat death. Whenever you use energy, you increase disorder overall. Cool a room with AC and you heat up the outside even more. It’s always net negative.
Life is an island of order in a universe where disorder keeps increasing. Earth, and every living thing on it, keeps its order at the cost of more disorder elsewhere. So life is always a triumph of order over disorder. In a sense, it’s a miracle. (This is part of my own attempt to prove God exists–it’s a bad argument like all the others, but better than most I am aware of: the fact that we enjoy life means we get something “for free” which is in a sense a type of miracle, since you never have to “pay it back” since you would prefer to have lived than not; unlike when you cool a room and there is a cost in the form of increased outside entropy. So you get to live for free, defying the natural order of the universe, sort of a miracle.)
The human condition is the same. It’s always a struggle, where success and profit are possible, and so are loss and failure. Profit isn’t the natural state of things either. That’s why, if you profit, competitors move in and your profit erodes unless you keep innovating.
This is why anti-consumption environmentalists are confused. Production and consumption, like profit, go against the grain of nature. When we manage to carve out a little oasis of life and prosperity despite life’s challenges, we should celebrate it, not condemn it with calls to consume less, recycle more, and so on. Those ideas are ultimately anti-life. Wherever there is life, or order, it comes at the cost of increasing disorder overall.
Rand’s Immortal Robot and “Values” (Rand’s immortal robot fails because no one can know he is immortal, and action depends on belief; also Mises on why an acting God is incoherent, and entropy making immortality impossible anyway)
The Ontology of the Omniverse (diagramming a Christian friend’s argument from life to information to meaning to an intelligent author; I conclude the natural universe is all there is)
Paul Kogos: Refuting Kinsella’s Atheism (a Brazilian Catholic libertarian I met in Portugal replies by video to my claim that praxeology rules out an acting God; I respond that praxeology applies to any purposive actor, and God either acts or he does not)
Mises on God (Mises in UFOES and Human Action on why an almighty being could not act)
God as Slaveowner; Conversations with Murphy (Bob Murphy argues God owns us as our creator; I reply that creation is not homesteading, and any divine claim would rest on God’s direct control over our bodies)
Human Action and Universe Creation (every action aims to bring about a different future, in effect creating a new universe, which makes us “little demi-gods”; plus my disagreement with Murphy’s draft arguing God owns the universe as its creator)
“Can God Own Your Soul?” (reply to Bob Murphy: even if God owned us, each person still has a better claim to his body than other humans do, and a good God would not enslave us)
The Tenth Annual World Liberty Summit 2026 (Nov. 10 and 11, 2026), organized by the think tank Sociedad de la Libertad (SDL Latam, @SDLPeru), based in Lima, Peru. This year’s Summit will be held in La Paz, Bolivia. The general theme is the future of anarcho-capitalism and the State in the 21st century.
Last night (Nov. 11, 2026) I spoke on “Private Law and the Universal Principles of Liberty.” My speech (including Spanish translation) is below.
The Tenth Annual World Liberty Summit 2026 (Nov. 10 and 11, 2026), organized by the think tank Sociedad de la Libertad (SDL Latam, @SDLPeru), based in Lima, Peru. This year’s Summit will be held in La Paz, Bolivia. The general theme is the future of anarcho-capitalism and the State in the 21st century.
Last night (Nov. 10, 2026) I spoke on “The Conflict Between AI and Copyright” on the Technology Panel. My speech (including Spanish translation) is below.
The event organizer, Rosa María Apaza of SDL LATAM, sent this wrap-up afterward (translated from the Spanish):
Here’s a look back at the 10th World Liberty Summit, “The Future of Anarcho-Capitalism and the State in the 21st Century.”
It was incredible to bring together the leading figures of anarcho-capitalism for three marathon—and enjoyable—sessions.
We will soon post Per Bylund’s two powerful presentations from Saturday, November 7, on our YouTube channel. Those attending in person were able to enjoy his talks without any problem.
Get ready: the LIBERTÉ SDL LATAM 2026 Awards are coming soon.
Long live liberty, damn it!
Long live anarcho-capitalism forever!
Long live SDL LATAM!
X Cumbre fue el encuentro de cognotados referentes del anarcocapitalismo
@PerBylund @NSKinsella @rmrojas58 @MaryRuwart Walter Block, @Bastos_Quotes @martinkrause
Fotos IG
https://t.co/5ZTTTfTr9l
Ver👇
https://t.co/qPNX5S0lSf
The Tenth Annual World Liberty Summit 2026 (Nov. 10 and 11, 2026), organized by the think tank Sociedad de la Libertad (SDL Latam, @SDLPeru), based in Lima, Peru. This year’s Summit will be held in La Paz, Bolivia. The general theme is the future of anarcho-capitalism and the State in the 21st century.
@NSKinsella desde EEUU saluda a Sociedad de la Libertad (SDL Latam) por su V Aniversario
💥Mañana nuestros referentes del anarcocapitalismo ofrecerán potentes discursos
💛Feliz Dia de la LIBERTAD MUNDIAL
Un dia como hoy se fundó SDL LATAM en Lima
🖤VIVA EL ANARCOCAPITALISMO!💛 https://t.co/KKuIkkW0NA
I will be providing two short 15-minute lectures (with Spanish translation interspersed): “The Conflict Between AI and Copyright” (Technology Panel, Nov. 10, 20.15 hrs Bolivia; 6:15pm Central Time) and “Private Law and the Universal Principles of Liberty” (Anarcho-Capitalism Panel: The Future of Anarcho-Capitalism and the State in the 21st Century; Nov. 11, 20.15 hrs Bolivia; 6:15pm Central Time).
See Sociedad de la Libertad, por su quinto aniversario, anuncia la semana de la libertad del 6 al 11 de noviembre: Abordan el futuro del anarcocapitalismo y el Estado en el siglo XXI en la X Cumbre Mundial de la Libertad Bolivia 2026.Apoyar una ONG (To mark its fifth anniversary, the Society for Liberty (Sociedad de la Libertad) announces “Liberty Week,” taking place from November 6 to 11. The event will explore the future of anarcho-capitalism and the State in the 21st century as part of the 10th World Liberty Summit (Bolivia 2026).
Abstract: This article develops a typology of knowledge in economics, drawing on the works of Carl Menger and F. A. Hayek, to clarify how different types of knowledge affect production, coordination, and entrepreneurial profit. It organizes economically relevant knowledge along two axes—the physical world versus the catallactic world, on the one hand, and general versus applied, on the other—and adds a temporal dimension to distinguish knowledge problems from uncertainty. The framework reveals that while physical-world knowledge sets the boundaries of what can be produced, catallactic-world knowledge guides what should be produced and how. The article applies this typology to Austrian theories of the market process, showing that uncertainty arises when value knowledge is unavailable at the time of action and that entrepreneurial profit stems from bearing this uncertainty rather than from superior knowledge. This conceptual separation advances the understanding of economic causality and the distinct functions of knowledge in market processes.
I steered Claude to write some commentary on this–have not reviewed yet completely so might not agree with it all but it has good references to other related writing of mine. [continue reading…]
Bylund 1 sees the core issues as the meaning and application of the non-aggression principle amid thick-vs-thin debates, open-borders vs. property-rights views on immigration, principle vs. efficacy/utilitarianism (including in the Libertarian Party), assessments of Milei’s record, and some libertarians’ support for political Zionism (viewed as endorsing aggression and statism), plus related institutional failures (e.g., during COVID), progressive shifts, and alliances with the New Right or left that risk diluting radical libertarianism. This frames a call for philosophical clarification of where libertarianism is headed, focused on the NAP.
Thank you for your work and for making it freely available. Any comments are very welcome. … Please feel free to comment (would be much appreciated) on the website. Good or bad reviews are always welcome equally.
I’ve been listening to Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar’s podcast, Amarica’s Constitution, on and off for a while, even though he’s mainstream and somewhat liberal. But unlike most of the legal academy, not reflexively centralist. (See his America’s Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By (Basic Books, 2012).) 1
His recent episode, “The Innocent Ham Sandwich” (Amarica’s Constitution, Oct. 28, 2026, with co-host Andy Lipka) has a couple of ideas of interest to libertarian decentralists: one on jury nullification (one important limit on state power), the other on State nullification of federal law (another important vertical limit on central US fedgov state power; one that libertarian centralists seem not to be that interested in). 2[continue reading…]
N.b.: I have used AI in the past (mostly Grok) to summarize and other mechanical tasks, but am reluctant to use it for writing. Finding newer emerging capabilities in Claude, I used it to help with finding and citing references and writing a first draft. I rewrote it all so it did not save time really but it did result in a more detailed post that would have taken more time had I done it without AI help. Interesting. [↩]
The transcripts, translated by Claude, are below (pdf; .docx). They are voluminous so I have not had time to review any of this. Text below (pdf; .docx). [continue reading…]
It took some work to have Episode #318 translated and analyzed by Grok. Too much effort o do them all, I figured. But I decided to let Claude take a crack at it. It produced translations and a summary of all 16 episodes. I post the summary and analysis below, and the translated transcripts separately (Romanian Libertarian (În Dodii) Discussions of The Legal Foundations of a Free Society: Transcripts). It is voluminous so I have not had time to review any of this, so any errors–blame Claude. Text below (pdf; .docx). [continue reading…]
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