Comments on: Freedom Lunches

By: Mike Linksvayer » Free (and gratis) software vs. 25,000 cops

Mike Linksvayer » Free (and gratis) software vs. 25,000 cops — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:48:57 +0000

[...] mentioned before that free software and its ilk decreases opportunity for taxation and regulation. Tim Lee wrote on the same topic a couple months ago. So I’m slightly pleased to see the [...]

By: Mike Linksvayer » Us Autonomo!

Mike Linksvayer » Us Autonomo! — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:08:17 +0000

[...] Consider all of this ignorant speculation. Yes, I’m just angling for more freedom lunches. [...]

By: Mike Linksvayer » Free software and social revolution

Mike Linksvayer » Free software and social revolution — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 02:27:24 +0000

[...] There’s much to debate concerning the speed, scope, and desirability of political and social change led by peer production. However, I find observations like the above rather satisfying and I believe deeply underappreciated. Peer production will not lead to absolute equality, but it does increase the scope for equality, freedom, autonomy, and decrease the need for violence or threats thereof. In other words, liberal ends achieved through liberal means, for a very broad range of meanings of “liberal.” [...]

By: Mike Linksvayer

Mike Linksvayer — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:08:22 +0000

Mike Lorrey, sorry I missed your comment until now.

Sure, you can define away the existence of free lunches, but that insn’t very interesting.

At the extreme (but not uncommon) case, creation itself is the creator’s highest preference — people enjoy creating. In the case of nonrival goods, not only does the creator minimized opportunity cost and maximized private benefit, everyone else gets to use the creation at no cost. No free lunch?

Static analysis says Craigslist is forgoing huge profits, but it may not be in the long run. There are many ad laden community sites out there. If CL had started out as one nobody would have ever heard of it. If it converts to one it risks losing its cachet, community and eventually the traffic that would drive huge profits.

By: Mike Lorrey

Mike Lorrey — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:11:15 +0000

On the contrary, when you get a free lunch from someone else, they are paying for it. It may be free to you, but someone always pays, even if in the form of opportunity costs. Your example of Craigslist is a perfect example of this. Craigslist sees tremendous opportunity costs by extracting only a small amount of the value of their services.

True free lunches pop out of the nothingness of the zero point field: i.e. a statistical impossibility, unless, as Stephen Hawking claims, you happen to be near a black hole’s event horizon….

By: Chris. F. Masse .COM

Chris. F. Masse .COM — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:58:33 +0000

Thank you for this good link to the Tech Liberation blog.

I didn’t know this blog. I will maybe put it in my blogroll.

Great week-end,

By: Mike Linksvayer

Mike Linksvayer — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 02:57:00 +0000

Anton, I wish. Corrected!

By: Anton

Anton — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 02:25:54 +0000

“TANSTAFFL”? …No Such Thing As F— Free Lunches?

By: Mike Linksvayer » Constitutionally open services

Mike Linksvayer » Constitutionally open services — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 07:54:08 +0000

[...] Consider all of this ignorant speculation. Yes, I’m just angling for more freedom lunches. [...]