Category: Personal

Craig Biddle and I wrote this essay, “Liberty: What Is It? Why Is It Good? On What Does It Depend?,” as a pamphlet for Students for Liberty to distribute at LibertyCon and other conferences. It’s a brief introduction to Ayn Rand’s views on liberty and how they differ from conventional views. If you’ve not yet read it,…

One of my joys in life is discussing important ideas with great thinkers. So I was delighted to have dinner at my home with Dr. Vernon Smith and his wife Candace, Dr. Bart Wilson and his partner Ryan Johnson, Todd Zywicki and his wife Jeri Curry, and Craig Biddle. I won’t get into everyone’s history…

I recently retired as a board member of the Cato Institute to focus on personal pursuits, such as advancing Objectivism through my Prometheus Foundation. I enjoyed my time on the board of Cato, and I have great respect for CEO Peter Goettler, Chairman Bob Levy, and all the other board members. Cato is a good…

I told my butler (who I call “James”—after all, English butlers are named James) that criticizing and complaining is a virtue. He looked at me disapprovingly, as if I’d said the moon is made of cheese. He said he did not think so; so, I explained.  I told him that nothing gets better until one…

I used to smile at a cartoon showing a drawing of two scraggly, skinny vultures roosting on a tree branch. The caption read: “Patience my ass, I’m gonna kill something.” That’s a go-getter attitude I thought. Patience is for those who don’t do anything. Patience is for those who sit around, those with no ambition. I didn’t…

I recently read Body by Science by Doug McGuff, MD, and John Little. While the book has some loose science, I believe it also has sufficient good science and valid ideas to be worth reading. I’ve been practicing its prescriptions with good results.

I’m currently reading The Kaufmann Protocol, by Sandra Kaufmann, MD, and I’m heartened to see that the science of life-extension and anti-aging is making headway…