Should dams be regulated in free society just because they threaten more people?

[vive_la_insurrection]

@John James

I agree. I think newbies tend to get a bit more out of the responses they get now than they did when they were just sideswiped with a condescending proclamation of “there is no such thing as a citizen”.

I think this also has to do with the fact that even if some of us may be blunt, lose our tempe, get in a heated discussion, have incompatible “personalities” etc I simply don’t think most of us here hold vendettas, are in the habit of preaching to the “echo chamber”, and things like that as much as they were 3 or 4 years ago.

@Marko

Years ago the forum was first of all much more active. Also its most outspoken members were in a greater proportion its members well versed in libertarian theory, economics and philosophy. It felt like a place where many people who were used to being (among) the smartest people in their RL environment came together. So if the inevitable brains-clash gave the forum a bit of an intolerant and combative veneer, it also gave it debate that was sharp, tenacious, expansive and sophisticated (in content if not in presentation). There was no better place to have your views challanged, to force you to develop them better, and to help you test your rationale for them against intolerant, combative, book-munching brainiacs used to always being right.

I don’t know if I agree with this when looking at the forum 3 years ago - if you look at it, there were pages of pages of “moral lifeboat” situations, “thick and thin liberterians”, and threads like “is it OK to beat children” or whatever.

I do think there has been a slump: but I think it is due to the forum split (or at the very least there is a correlation there); before that we had great “mainstream” econ posters, flairs of Left Libs comming in (though mostly they burnt themselves out), a couple of liberterian econ celebs posting once in awhile, etc.