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Pirates

Arts & Ideas

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Pirate Enlightenment or the Real Liberatalia

David Graeber argues that the Golden Age of piracy was also a time of radical democracy. The pirate settlers attempted to apply egalitarian principles of their ships to the new society on land. He says this idea of libertarianism really has an economic root. If you're guaranteed a fairly equal share of whatever prize you capture, then that's a sort of economic incentivizer to bring the fight to your prey.

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