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From a libertarian perspective, I always thought betting should be legal. Trust people to know their limits and remove the organized crime aspect. People will f

From a libertarian perspective, I always thought betting should be legal. Trust people to know their limits and remove the organized crime aspect. People will find a way even if it is illegal. Turns out there may have been a reason this was illegal in the first place.

OgsyedIE 9mo ago
Libertarianism works better than any other economic system for abstract agents. When you replace the abstract agents with mammals, however...
- dpe82 9mo ago
  Whenever I hear libertarian economic theory I always picture my physics professor prefacing every problem with "assume a perfectly uniform sphere..."
  - araes 9mo ago
    Milk production at a dairy farm was low, so the farmer wrote to the local university, asking for help from academia. After investigation, the physicist returned to the farm, saying to the farmer, "I have the solution, but it works only in the case of spherical cows in a vacuum." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow
- awakeasleep 9mo ago
  Libertarianism has no answer for how to deal with finite resources (for example land) that will be snapped up by the first agents.
troad 9mo ago
I tend towards libertarian defaults on social issues, but this completely breaks down for compulsive behaviours with severe externalities - gambling, smoking, etc. And naturally there's no such thing as "libertarianism except for the addictive stuff", because then someone in power gets to decide what is addictive and therefore regulated, and in short order everything is defined in those terms. This problem is the Achilles' Heel of libertarianism. It's still a better set of starting assumptions than the alternatives, but it's no comprehensive solution to politics in the way smart young people often want it to be.
- MichaelZuo 9mo ago
  It seems nonsensical then? You would have to pretend non-linear negative externalities don’t exist, or can be waved away with some magic wand.
  - devilbunny 9mo ago
    Don’t reduce it to the simplest, weakest version. Pure, untrammeled libertarianism has its weaknesses, but “unless it hurts others directly, you should be allowed to do what you like with yourself” isn’t a bad starting point.
amomchilov 9mo ago
The industry assures us they’re just filling demand that already existed, that used to be fulfilled by a black market anyway. So now it’s all above board and taxed and hunky dory. It’s a bit odd they spend a lot of money on advertising to stimulate demand though, hmmmmmmmm /s

OgsyedIE 9mo ago

Libertarianism works better than any other economic system for abstract agents. When you replace the abstract agents with mammals, however...

dpe82 9mo ago
Whenever I hear libertarian economic theory I always picture my physics professor prefacing every problem with "assume a perfectly uniform sphere..."
- araes 9mo ago
  Milk production at a dairy farm was low, so the farmer wrote to the local university, asking for help from academia. After investigation, the physicist returned to the farm, saying to the farmer, "I have the solution, but it works only in the case of spherical cows in a vacuum." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow
awakeasleep 9mo ago
Libertarianism has no answer for how to deal with finite resources (for example land) that will be snapped up by the first agents.

troad 9mo ago

I tend towards libertarian defaults on social issues, but this completely breaks down for compulsive behaviours with severe externalities - gambling, smoking, etc. And naturally there's no such thing as "libertarianism except for the addictive stuff", because then someone in power gets to decide what is addictive and therefore regulated, and in short order everything is defined in those terms. This problem is the Achilles' Heel of libertarianism. It's still a better set of starting assumptions than the alternatives, but it's no comprehensive solution to politics in the way smart young people often want it to be.

MichaelZuo 9mo ago
It seems nonsensical then? You would have to pretend non-linear negative externalities don’t exist, or can be waved away with some magic wand.
- devilbunny 9mo ago
  Don’t reduce it to the simplest, weakest version. Pure, untrammeled libertarianism has its weaknesses, but “unless it hurts others directly, you should be allowed to do what you like with yourself” isn’t a bad starting point.

amomchilov 9mo ago

The industry assures us they’re just filling demand that already existed, that used to be fulfilled by a black market anyway. So now it’s all above board and taxed and hunky dory. It’s a bit odd they spend a lot of money on advertising to stimulate demand though, hmmmmmmmm /s