I’ve been thinking about what legal changes I see along the lines of the Thirteenth Amendment. That amendment helped resolve the most partisan issue in the nation’s history, including hundreds of thousands of young men killed in the Civil War. Today it unites us. I envision the following proposals transforming our culture and leading to unity, though people who profit from the old ways will resist, as they did with[…] Keep reading →

I don’t know if any organizations speak for most libertarians, but I’ve been reading the pages What is a libertarian? from Libertarianism.org and the Platform of the Libertarian Party. The former begins Libertarians believe that, in politics, liberty is the most important value. Almost everyone wants freedom for themselves, but a libertarian also seeks to protect and expand the freedom of others. When people are free, we can create a more just,[…] Keep reading →

Check out this video, “Josh Spodek’s apartment disconnected from the electric grid in Manhattan on German TV”: (click the cc in the bottom right for English subtitles) (Note: I told the director over and over how the important story was the mission and strategy underneath, but journalists only cover what they can see and show so what you see is the superficial surface of my work. Journalists on the environment:[…] Keep reading →

Freedom exists in structure. It’s not chaos, randomness, or luck. When I find something works in my life, I make it automatic. For many people, diet and exercise seem horror shows, or mysteries, wondering what they should do, how often, how much, and so on. When the most important bases of my life are automatic, I don’t have to think about them. I can focus on everything else. People might[…] Keep reading →

I belong to Flight Free USA, which helps motivate people to avoid the wretched addiction of flying. I recommend joining and taking their pledge to avoid flying. You’ll be glad you did. I recommend reading the profiles of people who have pledged and found the joy, fun, and freedom of not flying. Their last newsletter inspired me to think of other initiatives to start that could improve people’s lives similarly[…] Keep reading →

I was talking to an Army Ranger. He said one thing he and his peers said to each other during the most grueling parts of training, when they wanted to give up was: The only thing worse than being a Ranger is not being a Ranger. He said it motivated them to keep going and love the experience, the challenge, the self-awareness of reaching your potential, acting in service of[…] Keep reading →

My story I disconnected from the electric grid for 8 months—in Manhattan became Ars Technica‘s top story the day it posted and the next. It also generated many questions and comments. I can’t answer them all, but I wanted to address the big ones, such as I’ll do my best to answer these questions, then return to the big picture of my goals in the experiment and reporting on it.[…] Keep reading →