By Nathan Dempsey
The Machinery of Freedom was written in 1973 by David D. Friedman. He captured beautifully, if not intentionally, a moment of intellectual vigor, that feeling of glee and wonder and daring. Through this lens Friedman looked at everything anew. It is how I imagine the history of science right after the invention of optical microscopes: looking close is unsettling.
Ethical philosophy was alive at the time, and scary. If you still are not sure what I mean, take a close look between your couch cushions and under the rug. Friedman and others discovered a mess. I expect they always believed it would be there. But it was not crumbs they wanted―and still want―to sweep away.
A Sailor Invented the Wheel
The Machinery of Freedom describes the æther in which libertarians stew. Fifty years on, it still seems like the original source code for libertarian non-player-characters (NPCs). His arguments are known to me a thousand times before reading this book. Wonderfully, Friedman is still well and alive. Like a joke I have not understood, Friedman is not a libertarian; he is an anarchist.
Features of a Friedman Society
Friedman observed in his time that arguments from principle land with little impact. He wrote that utilitarian arguments by contrast can appeal to a person's values. These were the tools he had. Today, it is becoming easier to build alternatives and demonstrate advantage by comparison.
“The market for liberty has room for small firms.”[1]Increasingly, it is possible to create digital versions of arbitrarily defined societies and explore them in non-arbitrary ways. Games are more capable than most people can imagine. Real people with real preferences can act with scarce means to achieve goals, developing a real economy, community, and society in a digital world. Here the risks, costs, and barriers to entry are low. A child with an allowance can become emperor of their digital universe without risking life and liberty. The learning curve is gradual because mistakes are not ruinous. The fact that none of this is real is a benefit, not a hindrance.
Zoomers are exploring statecraft without the State in just the same way that one can play chess without first having to vote for Grandmasters. The generation of statesmen which this learning environment produces will make our leaders look that much more like blathering morons. I am hopeful that this can produce the fastest increase in freedom the world has known. My purpose today is to explore Friedman's proposals with digital examples, as they exist in Minecraft. Minecraft is the best game to use because almost everything in the game is caused by player choices. It is a sandbox world. We will consider The Firm, immigration, private streets, sub-cities, competing protection agencies, and mention ideas that Friedman explores in his book which our digital community may yet explore.
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References
- Friedman, David D. (1989). The Machinery of Freedom. 2nd ed., Open Court. p. 84.
- Friedman, p. 79.