Charles Murray is a really interesting fellow. Normally I don't post thirty minute videos. I think our Ideas Matter readers generally want quick contact. Few of us have thirty minutes to spare. But occasionally we have those videos that get to some of the deepest issues of our time. And they require more. I hope you get a lot out of this Reason interview with Murray (the excellent Ron Bailey is the interviewer).
And if you enjoy the video I hope you'll enjoy my own 2006 interview with Murray below the fold:
Rory Sutherland is always a delight to listen to. (Well, by my lights anyway. Value is subjective.) If you've ever been interested in the psychology of advertising -- and if you love liberty, perhaps you should be -- then you could do much worse than Sutherland, one of the top brains at Ogilvy.
What's always fascinating to me is that while a few of us Mises and Hayek lovers are busy trying to learn a few tricks from Madison Ave., Sutherland and Co. are determined to learn a thing or two from the Austrian economists (and the behavioral economists like Daniel Kahneman). So what does this cross-pollination yield?
The stuff Ray Kurzweil is talking about is getting ready to hit the mass market. We're already seeing movement interfaces in game consoles like the Kinect for XBox. Eyewear displays are ready to hit as soon as the next calendar year. All these technologies might be on different tracks now. But they're getting ready to converge in really interesting ways.
It's Friday. You may be saying "TGIF" to yourself because you don't like where you're sitting. If that's the case, watch this video. Even if you're pretty happy, it's worth a look. Then join me below the fold.
Are people basically self-interested or basically altruistic? The answer is not so simple. If you get through the ten minute Leavitt and Dubner (Freakonomics) video above, you might ask whether it's better to be altruistic or to seem altrustic -- a question that goes back thousands of years.
Then, you might enjoy this excerpt from an article I wrote in The American magazine on the subject of the Ultimatum Game and wider implications for questions about envy and equality:
Ronald Coase and Gary Becker. Jeez. Can you get any heavier with the heavy hitters?
Before offering my insignificant opinion about their debate, I want first to say, Dear Reader, that you'll find no bigger treasure trove of great thinkers on film than you'll find at Free To Choose Network. So stay tuned.
Now, what could we possibly say about a debate between two Nobel Prize winners on one of the critical ideas driving modern economics?
The Institute for Justice is doing a fabulous job telling stories. And if you're in a free-market organization, you should to.
I know, I know. Stories aren't your thing. You're wonky. But if you want to go further in affecting change, you're going to have to connect with people on an emotional level.
Posting will be light this week, as your humble editor is off to wear his Associate Producer hat for a project we're doing to "test Milton Friedman."
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this video of a woman hearing for the first time. Let's celebrate the innovations and medical wonders made possible by markets.
