The Machinery Of Freedom: Illustrated summary
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters use it as a short introduction to anarcho-capitalist ideas about private law and how disputes could be resolved without a state.
What it is
An illustrated 23-minute summary of David Friedman's talk based on The Machinery of Freedom. It describes how law, police and courts could work as market services in a stateless society, covering private law, polycentric law and objections.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 7 different months, 2012 to 2020.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec snitko · 2014-05 · on “Is Bitcoin the Future of Money?”
> There would be no courts for those who cannot afford to pay for them. That's one major difference. There would be no police, fire agencies, etc etc, I highy recommend you watch this video, it's an illustrated talk by David D. Friedman, explaining how police, courts and other things would exist and work in a world without government: [this video] All of those things are just services. And the poor would be able to afford them too, just like the poor can afford cars, shoes and computers. > So it is outright impossible for groups of people to gather to cause serious violent harm towards members of a minority, leading to loss of life with no potential legal recourse? Is this what you are saying? It
Strong rec snitko · 2016-04 · on “Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens”
> Okay, let's say there's no governing body. Now, there's a dispute. How is it resolved? Fight to death? You've got an excellent question and I've got an excellent answer for you: [this video] It's a short video, but I highly recommend it to you (skip the first minute or so for a short historical intro). Please come back here and let me know if it answered your question. I also hope it doesn't just answer your question, but sets in your in a different mode for thinking, mode in which problems that seemed unsolvable can now be solved.
Recommends snitko · 2013-06 · on “Freedom: The Big American Lie”
No, we don't. A great talk and an illustration about how law and protection could work in a stateless society: [this video] by David D. Friedman (an economist AND a lawyer).
Recommends baddox · 2013-10 · on “Futarchy: Vote Values, But Bet Beliefs”
This is similar to, although one step removed from, the anarcho-capitalist proposal in David Friedman's 1973 book The Machinery of Freedom [0]. In this proposed society, monopoly government is replaced completely by a market for everything that government currently does, including law production, law enforcement, arbitration (courts), roads and infrastructure, and even "national" defense. I'm admittedly a big fan of Friedman's proposal, and I wonder what supposed advantage this futarchy provides over Friedman's proposal. There's a decent 20 minutes illustrated summary video on YouTube [1]. [0] [LINK] [1] [this video]
Recommends baddox · 2013-10 · on “Silk Road 2.0: A concept of a distributed anonymous marketplace”
> However, in my experience they seem to try to vastly simplify many issues by waving their hands and talking about the non-aggression principle as if that automatically solves everything. The truth is, while there may be laws which are unjust, unfair, or plain silly, most of them were created to meet a need or solve a problem. This is very true, but it doesn't represent the views of all libertarians or even all anarcho-capitalists. For a much better approach to anarcho-capitalism—one that focuses primarily on economics and not on morality—check out David Friedman's writings and talks. Here's a basic introduction to his proposal of a polycentric legal system where the market produces all goo
Recommends pielud · 2014-02 · on “Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen”
As another reply has suggested, David Friedman's Machinery of Freedom is an excellent book which describes how private defense, law and dispute resolution might happen. This video is a good introduction to the ideas presented in the book [this video]
Recommends snitko · 2014-08 · on “SpaceX Slapped With Wage Class Action Over Mass Layoff”
I suggest you watch this short video then, which explains how laws, protection and private property can be created and enforced in a free market: [this video]
Recommends jokethrowaway · 2020-09 · on “Are you an anarchist? The answer may surprise you (2000)”
Funnily enough, as an anarchist, I never heard before that removing the government (or hierarchical use of violence) would remove violence from the world. There are plenty of ideas on how to keep law and order in an anarchic society. I recommend you to read The Machinery of Freedom (by David Friedman) or check out a summary here: [this video] TLDR: One way to keep order is having private law enforcement / private insurance you voluntarily subscribe to. This can be provided by multiple companies competing on the market. These entities can agree between each other on how to settle disputes, use a third party private arbitration system or physically fight against each other. A war between law enforc