A show based on what psychologists tell us about property, and how humans view ownership.  What is universal?  What is cultural?  What do we see in pre-linguistic and very young children?  How do children's views develop into adult views of property?  etc....  There's also been research done into minds on different politics in MRI scanners.  That might be entertaining for a "psychology of politics" or "psych of economics" show.

Here is some source material for a jumping-off point:

http://www.cato.org/research/articles/wilkinson-050201.html

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/were-only-human/an-intuitive-sense-of-property.html

The reason I say this makes a good show is because I've read a bit about it, and know the research mostly confirms the first-user rule of libertarianism, as well as private property and homesteading.

Incidentally, you might add in a bit about property in the animal kingdom.  Some research has been done on that too, and some of it is kind of entertaining.

Perhaps it is a larger topic.  An attempt to answer the question: If we were to attempt to objectively look at the available information about homo sapiens' natural leanings from birth until the beginnings of indoctrination with regards to property, economics/trade, and governance, what conclusions might we draw about the best forms of organization for human society?

 http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

How do you teach children why it's wrong to lie, hit someone, or steal? I used to think it was "you don't want someone doing it to you" schtick but that doesn't truly teach them anything, and I'm not exactly sure why.

I'll be there. Count on it. Too busy packing and preparing for six months in Thailand starting on Sept. 16th.

http://www.oftwominds.com/Survival/Overreach-InequalitySP.pdf

http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html#jump

The two articles above talk about mercantilism in a nutshell or what charles hugh smith calls neo liberal global capitalism, that crushes a middle class while benefitting the state and plutocrat elite.

He also mentions that regardless of the time and place that they will always exist. Inevitably, their can be wealthy people in an anarchist society, but would they necessarily have the overreaching inequality that our elites have today? So many benefitting so few?

And yet we have lifestyles that eclipse what powerful ruling people had 100 years ago. Aaah, the benefit of free markets.

Check out Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves To Death". In the book, Postman describes the difference between iconographic and typographic language processing. He makes a strong case for shutting the tv and computer off and going out into the world. His books have had a huge impact on my intelligence and I can honestly say there's a lot about abstaining from mass media that appeals to me. Well, I'm off to read a book, I hope you're all healthy and happy!

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this as it touches on parenting, ethics, government, AND cattle prods, but I figured as it was started as a discussion of government I woudl put it here.

So, this is a discussion I am involved in over at a magic forum I frequent.  This was in their off topic section if you will:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=378440&forum=32&start=0

I could not believe it when the one guy, Dreadnought, after defending atrocities activities of state thugs, and advocating "authority" constantly conflated with aggression, said this in response to me saying it was only ever ok to kill in self defense as a last resort.  He was previously trying to accuse me of saying I had the right to take someone's life as if it was an absolute statement due to my advocating self defense.  He is quoting me in the quotes here:

"I am curious where you are going with this. Would you say we have no right to take a life, no matter what? Even in self defence?" As I see it, that is correct. Suffer and bear one's trials patiently. Not everybody's cup of tea"

As I said, this is the same guy who was defending the actions of cops killing people, in particular the case of the cop who shot and murdered a man who was whittling because it was illegal for him to possess a knife in public, and the man did not drop it right away when the cop approached him with his gun.

Also, he later accused me of being the one confusing authority with aggression.

Any who, it is an interesting read, though now on 9 pages.  It saddens me deeply when I see this being such a prevalent way of thinking.

Any thoughts?

I thought I would provide a brief, personal testimonial to my own, very pleasant experience at the 2010 FDR BBQ. I hope that people who have had some sort of interest in attending will take note of what I have to say.

I came to this event alone, and it was the first time I ever traveled alone outside of my home country (USA). As would be expected, I was incredibly anxious about what kind of event this would be, or if I would even find myself comfortable in this conversation that I have had such an intense curiosity about.

I came in late Friday evening, and I didn't get to experience the events that took place the previous two days. I met many people who were attending over the course of Saturday morning, and into the BBQ during the day. Every single person I met was incredibly polite, respectful, and genuinely curious about meeting others around them. Over the course of the weekend, I was amazed by how incredibly self-aware many people were, and how open they were with expressing their emotions coherently in relation to their own personal experiences. Early on, I felt some initial intimidation to get involved in thicker, deeper conversations. However, with some wonderful encouragement from others, I got myself more involved in conversations on Sunday. As I did do this, I realized how relaxed everyone in this group was amongst each other. I realized that saying something that might be slightly irrational or that could be a projection or defense isn't the end of the world, so as long as you recognize that it is such, either by yourself or with the help of others.

It was also a pure joy to see what an amazing child Izzy is, and the sheer joy that she experiences when she plays with her parents. There truly is a remarkably happy relationship between Stef, Christina, and Izzy. When I saw Izzy laugh in the lap of her father, I couldn't help but think of what a wonderful world we would build if more children got to experience that kind of fearless, playful joy with their parents.

Eventually, on Sunday evening, I gained the courage to discuss and share some deep questions and personal experiences with Stef and everyone else there that evening. I was amazed by the intelligent questions that Stef and others asked me, as well as the experiences that they shared or that they knew of that related to my own experiences. I can reflect with incredible admiration at the empathy that so many people displayed to me. Not only was I amazed by others' empathy, but I was also surprisingly impressed with my own ability to engage in such an honest and open conversation with people who have such a high degree of intelligence and emotional coherence. I left that conversation with a lot to reflect on, and a lot to do with regards to myself and the people close to me. Neverthless, I left with greater assurance and confidence that I have an ability to approach my relationships with both myself and others close to me with whole-hearted, genuine, non-speculative curiosity.

I would like to say to others who have had ambivalence about attending the annual FDR BBQ: COME!!! It's a beautiful and unfortunately foreign experience. It was the greatest interpersonal experience that I've ever been a part of, and likely many others would feel the same. It doesn't take very long after you leave and return to your regular life to suddenly realize how far the world really has to go to achieve this beautiful and free world that we all want. However, after you come to something like this, you know that it is indeed possible. What I can say from this experience, to use a metaphor, is that those of us who take a conscious effort to live with true and consistent philosophical values are indeed, the prototypes to that precious motor that Dagny Taggart thought would fundamentally change the world (Atlas Shrugged reference). A free world is not going to happen in any of our lifetimes, but your experience here is the greatest opportunity to experience that world that we are trying so hard to build...and what a wonderful experience that truly is, to be a part of!

And not anything specifically related to FDR?  I would think that if we want to gain as many listeners and members as possible that it would be a good idea to make FDR a brand so to speak.  A big part of being a brand is connecting different accounts (FDR website, YouTube, Facebook, etc).  Plus now you can include a link to your website within the videos.  I haven't taken a look at the director's version of uploading YouTube videos but they've added a lot of cool features which we might want to start taking advantage of.

I am sure mnay have already seen this, but I just saw it today:

A man bartered his way up from a single red paper-clip to a house on craigslist.

There is another more recent story about a 15 year old boy who bartered his way up from a used cell-phone to a porsche sports car in 14 trades...

http://blog.craigslist.org/2010/07/trading-post/