[AMA Thread] Dr. Michael Huemer, Professor of philosophy

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Michael Huemer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and an anarcho-capitalist. He is the author of more than eighty academic articles in epistemology, ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy. Most notably, Huemer has written a paper on immigration in which he argues that states are not ethically justified in preventing foreigners from entering their borders and a paper on gun rights in which he argues that gun ownership is a prima facie right that ought not be infringed on by a simple utilitarian calculus. Huemer has also written almost a dozen books.

Dr. Huemer has generously offered to answer questions and to have his answers displayed publicly. Please be considerate and try not to ask surface-level questions that could be answered with a single google search.

I will stop accepting responses in 48 hours on April 10, 2024 at 8:40pm CST. When Huemer responds, I will post a follow-up thread with his answers.
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He’s a legit anarcho capitalist so anyone who had questions for my AMA would be infinitely better served asking him. 
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@Savant
I was basically a minarchist before I ran into an argument such as the one that follows and I wonder how he responds to it. 

Basically in am anarchist society people can act in a collective manner if they choose to do so. They can create a community, pass laws that they volunteer to in that community and even elect a mini government and when they pass that land to their kid's have their kid's inherit the same sort of rules unless they turn down that land. 

What is the difference between doing that on a micro scale like with a neighborhood and just at a nation state level?

Also how do you deal with private property rights in general? What qualifies as trespassing? Does a neighbor shining a light in your window qualify asbtrespassing because light particles enter your property? And if light particles are considered trespassing how would the anarchist differentiate between an acceptable level and an unacceptable level or if banned altogether than how do you eliminate sound and light from your house entering your neighbors property?


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Also thanks savant for reaching out to him. 
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Dr Huemer appears to claim that the chickens I eat don't deserve the pain and suffering it takes to get them to my plate. Is there any reason to assume animals are anything more than philosophical zombies or automatons basically programmed by nature and unable to have any real consciousness?

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Regarding immigration. Has the professor looked into the brain drain that occurs by America stealing all of the brightest minds out of 3rd world locations that could really use those minds to lift the countries out of poverty? What about the long term damage to 3rd world countries by accepting the people dissatisfied enough to actually be motivated to end that countries corrupt policies?

What does he think the likelihood of accepting a bunch of people who in general may accept the type of poisonous policies that turned their countries into crap holes? 

For example if Javier Milie had immigrated to the United States and many of his supporters he would currently not be in Argentina fixing their society.
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Oh yea. What’s his favorite color? See that’s not a question google answered.


But seriously, probably not. I’m not that much into philosophy.
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I am going to watch this before I think of a question:
WyIted
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Views on Uncle Ted (kaczynski) being a folk hero? 
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Views on Uncle Ted (kaczynski) being a folk hero? 
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@Savant
"Hi, Dr. Huemer. How do asymmetric regimes affect the immigration issue? For example, the WTO makes free trade largely reciprocal and limits the scope of trade wars between member states. But there's no agreement of this kind for immigration. If Country A restricts the flow of migrants from Country B, is it acceptable for Country B to have an equivalent policy toward citizens of Country A?"
WyIted
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I looked at this guy's birth year and his photos. How the fuck is he so good looking at that age? 
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@Savant
Some questions I've had for anarcho-capitalism. 

  1. If we are to take the NAP as sufficient in grounding moral claims, would this not leave out acts we see are immoral, such as using someones likeness (deepfake) in explicit content? 
    1. By extension, if a hacker appropriates someones personal videos and posts it online, wouldn't the NAP have nothing to say about this? Taking video or photograph would not qualify as theft under the ANCAP's philosophy (because it is neither scarce nor rivalrous), and it doesn't necessarily violate the NAP because the individual doesn't need to know about it. 
  2. Suppose we have an ANCAP world in which there some exists some legal dispute between two people - a pro life and pro choice person, where the pro life person is laying charges because they believe the pro choice person, who owns an abortion clinic, is committing murder everyday. Per the ANCAP model, they would each be represented by some arbitration agencies who converse on the facts of the matter. Let's say both of them agree on the descriptive facts - that there is an abortion clinic being run, but not the prescriptive facts - whether this is wrong. This is because the two arbitration agencies apply the NAP differently - one believes it applies to all humans whereas the other believes it applies to sovereign agents who can reciprocate the respect of liberty. So per the ANCAP model, these two will then seek a third arbitration company, and agree that their decision will be final. My question is this - how will these two parties ever agree on an arbitration company - it would seem that the pro life party would only agree to a third party which they have seen will likely rule in their favour principally, whereas the pro choice party will do the opposite. That is to say, an agreement on the third party will be impossible, because they will respectively only want a mediator which has a precedent of ruling in their favour. 
  3. Personal book recommendations for ANCAP theory? 

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@Savant
The Universe.

Chance or purpose?


I would suggest that philosophically, one needs to be able to run with either option.
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Here is a list of his favorite bible verses

Leviticus 20:9

If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.
20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
20:13 If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death.
Deuteronomy 22:20-1 If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house.
Exodus 35:2

For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.
On Destroying Other People

Deuteronomy 7:1-2 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations . . . then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
20:10-17 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. . . . This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
     However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you.
On the Evil of Biblical Law

Ezekiel 20:25-26 I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by; I let them become defiled through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn—that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the LORD.
On Slavery & Subjugation of Women

Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Exodus 21:20-21 If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.
1 Peter 2:13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men.
2:18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
Leviticus 25:44-45

Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.
Jesus, on His Second Coming

Matthew 24:29-34

[T]he sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. . . . They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. . . . I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. [Emphasis added.]
16:27-28

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
Scientific Errors

(1) Rabbits don’t chew cud.
Deuteronomy 14:6-7

You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud. However, of those that chew the cud or that have a split hoof completely divided you may not eat the camel, the rabbit, or the coney.
(2) No insects (including grasshoppers) are 4-legged.
Leviticus 11:20-22

All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable to you. There are, however, some winged creatures that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper.
(3) This is only possible on a flat earth.
Matthew 4:8

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
(4) pi does not = 3.
1 Kings 7:23

He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim . . . It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it.
(5) The earth moves. It does not have a foundation.
Psalms 104:5

He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.
Selected Contradictions

(1)
2 Kings 2:11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
John 3:13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
(2)
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Exodus 32:14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
(3)
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith . . . not by works.
James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? . . . Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Revelation 22:12 Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
(4) (Jesus speaking)
Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.
Matthew 6:1 Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.
(5) (Jesus speaking)
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
Matthew 10:34 Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
(6)
Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and my life was preserved.”
Exodus 33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.
John 1:18 No one has ever seen God.
(7) (Jesus speaking)
John 5:31 If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.
John 8:14 Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid.
Does he have any favorite Quran verses he would like to share as well? 
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Maybe I have to buy his book to learn this but he had a section in one of his books titled

Why philosophers should not serve on juries
I would love to read that section. It was on the book about vegetarianism. 
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How is age of consent determined in anarchy?
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@Savant
How does he reconcile being an anarcho capitalist with being intelligent given that the system in place to govern anarchy is as unintelligent and absent of strategy as it could ever get?

For him personally, what is it that should, not does but should scare anyone that wants to rape his closest relative, especially female, at this exact moment within the vicinity to do so to their heart's content? Similarly, what should, not does but should, stop his neighbour this exact second as he reads this, from coming in with a baseball bat and others that benefit from mugging him penniless?

I'd prefer he answer the question on its own, not involving my username on the video or whatever it is he is publishing. If he is going down the thread showing usernames, so be it.
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@Savant
Another question:

If after his last had meal or beverage, he is in hospital but not quite yet dead, debilitated from it as it has different contents to what was displayed in the packaging  the ingredients or beverage was contained in, how other than virtue signalling and #boycott vibes would he go about retribution and deterrance of other vile scum doing that and laughing about it?
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@gugigor
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Any questions for Huemer?
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@Savant
Any given community would presumably have disputes with other communities, not only with lowlife criminals and small terrorist groups. So you'd need a standing army to defend your community, unless you first eradicated war entirely, which somehow sounds far more implausible than even anancap. Now then, having standing armies around, or else be occupied by the standing armies of other communites,  what is going to prevent them from ending the anarchy by pulling out a little something called a military coup for their own benefit?
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@WyIted
I looked at this guy's birth year and his photos. How the fuck is he so good looking at that age? 
It's one of the advantages of having a relaxed job. I don't see any stressful situation in the life of a phylospher, imho.
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@IlDiavolo
I don't see any stressful situation in the life of a phylospher
You must not have seen The Good Place, lol
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@Savant
Yes in regards to immigration, illegal aliens and laws regarding immigration , the legality surrounding this matter is in line with some sort of security and protection and there's been talks I've heard of a wall around the boarders to strengthen that security just like having a fence up around perhaps your residential property in the name of security, why does this not suffice ethically being a mention and focus towards what's ethically justified ?

Thanks.
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@Savant

"Comparing the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2023 shows 2.7 million more people working in the United States — 2.9 million more immigrants (legal and illegal) and 183,000 fewer U.S.-born Americans."

"...Since the depths of the Covid Recession in 2020 employment has increased for both groups. But the number of U.S.-born workers has not made it back to the 2019 pre-Covid level"

How is that not a textbook case of immigration saturating the US economy. Does he have an explanation for this trend?
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Immigration only usually effects black unemployment levels so I am wondering if his position is maybe pro immigration because it doesn't harm whites. It's not a question so don't worry about relaying it but just trying to understand his reasoning a bit
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@Savant
My family decided to use the eclipse as an  excuse to get together. I'm afraid I did not see this in time.