Stephen Hicks joins me to discuss the philosophy of money, the morality of money and business, the importance of philosophical education, and why Bitcoin might be a sly roundabout way to take money out of the hands of The State.
Stephen Hicks is a professor of philosophy and the Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rockford University. He is the author of 'Nietzsche and the Nazis.'
// OUTLINE // 00:00:00 - Coming up 00:00:23 - Intro 00:01:56 - Helping Lightning Startups with In Wolf's Clothing 00:02:43 - Introducing Stephen Hicks 00:03:12 - The Philosophy of Money 00:06:29 - Money: A Social and Cultural Achievement 00:08:39 - Centrally Designed Money vs. Emergent Money 00:13:26 - The Origin of Money 00:18:42 - Money: A Language of Value 00:21:30 - The Resemblance between Money and Books 00:23:55 - The Morality of Money 00:33:56 - Money in Ancient Greece and Sparta 00:36:49 - The Greater Good Fallacy 00:41:05 - Individual Will vs. Collective Will 00:43:23 - The Utilitarian Standard 00:46:20 - Individualism Projects the Highest Resolution 00:49:11 - Maximize Your Profits with Gold Investment Letter 00:50:05 - Secure Your Bitcoin Stash with the iCoin Hardware Wallet 00:51:01 - The Noble Lie 00:52:01 - Bootleggers and Baptists 00:55:25 - The Naivety of the Baptists 00:57:56 - The Philosophical Controversy of Money 01:01:06 - A Cognitive Hierarchy and Measuring the Value 01:07:20 - Apprehending the Value of Knowledge 01:10:31 - The Laziness Factor and Business Efficiency 01:15:10 - The Ethics of Business 01:15:56 - Lending & Borrowing 01:22:28 - Morality of Business and Money 01:25:35 - The Inherent Value 01:29:11 - Free Market Capitalism Promotes Individualism 01:32:20 - The Desire for a Centralized Authority 01:35:25 - Secularism of the Central Planners 01:37:34 - A Bitcoin Wallet with Privacy Built-In: Wasabi Wallet 01:38:26 - Hold Bitcoin in the Most Secure Custody Model with Casa 01:39:14 - Value Judgment 01:42:58 - The Difference between Government and State 01:46:52 - The Legitimacy of Using Force 01:49:10 - The Proper Role of the State 01:50:40 - Restraining the State within the Moral Scope 01:55:14 - The Importance of Philosophical Education 01:59:25 - The Proverbial Cycle of Men and Time 02:03:00 - Still on the Learning Curve 02:04:23 - Proper Education for Children 02:06:26 - Can Bitcoin Restrain the Government? 02:09:18 - The Political Risks to Bitcoin 02:12:20 - Where to Find Stephen on the Internet