Tag: philosophy

The Dialectic of History: Arielle Friedman – Episode 213

by Kurt Robinson on July 8, 2019 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: Young people learn philosophy

Arielle Friedman is the former co-host of the Crypto Hippies Podcast, and now a co-host of The Multiversity Project, a podcast for exploring higher-dimensional education.

In this interview we talk about what got her on the path of questioning what governments told her, noticing that their stated intentions weren’t aligned with their real intentions. We talk about how that lead her to take an interest in philosophy, particularly in the works of Hegel. And we talk about the future of governments with things like private security and seasteading.

The Eps:

Voluntaryism and beyond – Katy Kelly

Being Open-Minded – Chris Guida

The Links:

The Multiversity Project

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please like and follow The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit. Also check out my new site, Cryptonomics, and follow Cryptonomics on Steemit

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

Listen and subscribe to The Paradise Paradox on Anchor and other services.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

How did I become an anarchist – Best Bits

by Kurt Robinson on June 11, 2017 in Best Bits • 2 Comments

Kurt is interviewed by Jeff Berwick on Anarchast, and is asked Jeff’s favourite question, “How did you become an anarchist?” Kurt explains how he put the pieces of liberty together – understanding social or personal liberty, understanding economic liberty, understanding the philosophical and legal aspects, and finally having the “click”, realising that a state is unnecessary and undesirable.

Watch and listen to the full interview here: Kurt on Anarchast – Living Freely and Enjoying the Ride

Catholicism in Mexico: A death cult?

by Kurt Robinson on December 21, 2016 in Religion • 0 Comments

When I walk into a church in Mexico, I can’t help but escape the images of death. There will normally be several idols of Christ, bloody and beaten, on a cross or in a coffin. In the Cathedral in Guadalajara, there is a mummy in a glass coffin, which supposedly belonged to a martyr, a young lady beaten to death by her father, enraged by her ambition to be a nun. I saw a similar mummy in Pachuca, Hidalgo, with a similar story. Apparently this story is repeated in churches all over Mexico – an archetype, a story too good to be told just once, like a rerun of ‘I Love Lucy’.

The other day I walked into the sacred art museum, which is attached to the Cathedral. In the first room we walked into, while looking at the paintings, I had the uncanny feeling that the people in the paintings were looking at me, or waiting to look at me. My companion also felt that there was something dark about the place. (Unfortunately, I can’t show you any pictures of the museum as they asked us not to take photographs.) In another room, there was a stand intended to hold books for a chorus, in the shape of a ziggurat or burial mound, with Christ on a crucifix at the top. The whole thing was painted black. Again, I felt I shouldn’t turn my back on it. I wondered about the dark things this object had seen, wondering if children had been abused while perched on its shelves.

In another room, there was a particularly gruesome picture of Christ, apparently already very dead, with Mary Magdalene by his side, holding his hand. His hand was by her mouth, but instead of kissing it she appeared to be sucking it. In front of Christ stood a dark female figure in a black robe with very white skin, tears streaming down her cheeks. I assume it’s supposed to be Mary, but it looked like Death.

In the entire museum, I saw Christ as an infant, as a dying man, and as a corpse – almost always in states where he wasn’t capable of teaching anything. The only exception was a handful of paintings depicting the scene “Christ among the doctors”, in which Christ is about 12 years old. The Sermon on the Mount was never portrayed. I wonder if that’s a decision of the curators, or of the Mexican artists over the centuries, or of their commissions from the church. Perhaps there are different ways to interpret it, but to me the message seemed to be: your god is impotent and helpless.

I hope I don’t offend anybody with this post, as this is just my experience as an outsider looking in, and obviously there are subtleties that someone more familiar with Catholicism would notice. However, I do think that people should be wary of these types of images. A man might make a fine idol for you to pray towards, and you might even kiss its feet, as I’ve seen many people do. If the man controls the image that you pray to, you can be sure that he also controls you. God needs no intermediaries.

Values: A man’s gotta have a code Part 2: Link McElvenny & Mr. J. – Episode 136

by Kurt Robinson on November 4, 2016 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Story: A hierarchy of values – which principle is more important?

There’s an old zen story about two monks travelling. They encounter a young lady who is having trouble crossing a river. One of the monks offers to help the woman, picks her up on his back and carries her across the river. A few miles down the road, the other monk turns to the first and says “Brother, you know we are not supposed to touch women. It is not appropriate for a monk.” The first monk says “I set her down on the river bank miles back – are you still carrying her?”

Most people have values that they try to live by, but most people also have situations in which they’re willing to overlook those values. Maybe it’s a case of them ignoring their principles to do indulge in something which they are tempted by in the moment… Or perhaps they are expressing a deeper need, a deeper value. Is it possible that our moments of perceived weakness, or deviation from our principles, may tell us more about us than we realise?

In this episode, Kurt continues the discussion about moral and ethical codes with Link McElvenny and Mr. J. We discuss the difference between technique and application, and the difference between technique and heart. We talk about being self-aware and empathetic while you’re creating art, and the possible pitfalls of that awareness. Other topics of conversation include the trolley problem, hypothetical philosophical questions in general, the value of abstract thinking, when principles must be ignored in favour of higher principles, reductionism and looking at people in their totality, and of course, the moral question of having consensual sex with dolphins.

Join us on a journey into a hypothetical dolphin-hugging artistic world of ideas in the next episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

A man’s gotta have a code Part 1

The Links:

Do people really screw dolphins

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

A game you have to invent, to win – a clip from Episode 121

by Kurt Robinson on August 17, 2016 in Best Bits • 0 Comments

For those of you who are too busy to watch an hour long interview, we decided to take out some of the best bits for you to enjoy.

In this clip, Andrew Levine (a.k.a. @andrarchy) describes some important concepts relating to his idea of a massively multiplayer OFFline game. It’s a kind of roleplaying game, with a limited set of rules, which the participants may change as they go along. The players decide what the prize is, and what one must do to achieve it. Andrew also explains how roleplaying games like this enable us to indulge in impulses, such as dishonest, which we couldn’t necessarily get away with in our regular lives, and finally he mentions how cryptocurrency and Steemit make these kinds of ambitious projects possible.

Watch the full episode here.

Episode 73 – Anarchist Adventurer Kenny Palurintano

by Kurt Robinson on December 4, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

The Cash:

The Story:

As a wise and curious wandering man once said “Take care of today, and tomorrow will take care of itself.” The truth is, few people have the courage and confidence in themselves to live their lives by these words. What if you were put in a position where you had no money, and no way to maintain your survival except for your skills and the mutual compassion of those around you? Better yet, what if you put yourself in that position knowing that it was the only way that you could truly be honest with yourself. That is one of the many stories of a curious individual who goes by the name of Kenny Palurintano.

To step out into the world with only $200, spend that $200 within the first couple of days feeding your friends, without knowing exactly where your next meal is coming from… might take some king kong sized cojones. Or it might just take a little self-knowledge and a little faith in oneself.

In this episode we talk to Kenny about a few of his adventures, his ways of getting by, and his ideas of an ideal society – how mature people working together and working on their passions might lead us to a better world of abundance and happiness. Kenny provides us with some real-life examples of communities and events that already exist using similar tribal or family-based models.

So join us on another bone-rattling, dumpster-diving, heart-filling adventure on … The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Alais Clay

Alais Clay – Heavy Koolaid

Star Tribe Alliance

Lost Valley Education Center

Black Bear Ranch Intentional Community

Fellowship for Intentional Community

Detroit Threat Management Center interview with Dale Brown

Zeitgeist: Addendum

The Venus Project

Anarchapulco 2016

Terence McKenna 2012 Final Thoughts

Khan Academy – you can learn anything!

Massively online courses for everyone

Rob Hustle ft. Bump – Call the Cops

Anarchast 248 with Adam Kokesh

Episode 28 – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Hate the State Part 2

by Kurt Robinson on April 24, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

A continuation! Here is the second half of Kurt’s epic story of how he started asking the big questions about government. Where does the government’s authority come from? Is it possible to have a healthy economy without a government? Is taxation moral? We also discuss the most famous libertarian in Australian politics, David Leyonhjelm; whether Prime Minister Tony Abbott is an alien; and the fact that every Mexican seems to understand when we say “taxation is theft”.

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

Please donate to show your support. BitCoin address: 182CzJUbz8xb1JZjuVm2S4YUBfd3xk2XfM

Or donate your Altcoins using Shapeshift:

Episode 27 – How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Hate the State

by Kurt Robinson on April 21, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

Part one of a two part epic. Kurt explains his philosophical and political development, in the steps he took and the questions he had to ask to become a voluntaryist/libertarian anarchist. Why does government get to decide what you do with your body? What lawful right do police have to detain you when you’ve injured no-one? Can an involuntary government be a moral institution?

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

Please donate to show your support. BitCoin address: 182CzJUbz8xb1JZjuVm2S4YUBfd3xk2XfM

Or donate your Altcoins using Shapeshift:

Episode 3 – The Economics of Freedom

by Kurt Robinson on December 15, 2014 in Podcast

We discuss Austrian economics, and how it’s different in many ways to the schools of thought that are normally taught in universities, such as Keynesian economics and Modern Monetary Theory. We discuss the legitimacy of government institutions such as an offensive military, the police, and how some more effective solutions could be provided without taxation.

To download the podcast, right click and press “Save as”.

Please donate to show your support. BitCoin address: 182CzJUbz8xb1JZjuVm2S4YUBfd3xk2XfM

Or donate your Altcoins using Shapeshift:

Tag: philosophy

The Dialectic of History: Arielle Friedman – Episode 213

The Story: Young people learn philosophy

The Eps:

The Links:

The Cash:

The Episode:

How did I become an anarchist – Best Bits

Catholicism in Mexico: A death cult?

Values: A man’s gotta have a code Part 2: Link McElvenny & Mr. J. – Episode 136

The Story: A hierarchy of values – which principle is more important?

The Eps:

The Links:

The Cash:

The Episode:

A game you have to invent, to win – a clip from Episode 121

Episode 28 – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Hate the State Part 2

Related Links:

Episode 27 – How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Hate the State

Related links:

Episode 3 – The Economics of Freedom