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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 56m \ parent \ on: The Last Conservative (Milton Friedman) BooksAndArticles
apologies for the god awful formatting on my part
one of Milton Friedman’s most memorable rhetorical moments...
During the Vietnam War era, Friedman served on President Nixon’s Commission on an All-Volunteer Force, which was tasked with evaluating the feasibility of ending the military draft.
In a public hearing, General William Westmoreland, then commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, expressed opposition to a volunteer military. He said he didn’t want to command “an army of mercenaries.” Friedman, never one to let a loaded term go unchallenged, replied:
“General, would you rather command an army of slaves?”
Westmoreland objected, saying he didn’t like hearing patriotic draftees referred to as slaves. Friedman shot back:
“I don’t like to hear patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries. If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general. We are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher.”
Brilliant reply!
Let's just say General Westmoreland had no comeback, his clip was empty
Friedman was not a fan of the gold standard or central banks. In fact he supported abolishing the federal reserve bank
My point is the judge went overboard on reprimanding the lawyer and ai tools
She clearly had a personal axe to grind like many judicial activists
I’m not familiar with the term
Who were the other scholars associated with logical positive?
Edit:
I asked ChatGPT…
Milton Friedman was not associated with logical positivism, but there is an interesting connection worth unpacking.
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Milton Friedman vs. Logical Positivism
• Friedman was an economist, not a philosopher. His intellectual home was the Chicago School of Economics, rooted in neoclassical economics and monetarism, not in logical positivism or the Vienna Circle.
• That said, in his 1953 essay “The Methodology of Positive Economics,” Friedman borrowed certain ideas that sound similar to logical positivism, especially the idea that the realism of assumptions doesn’t matter—only the predictive power of a theory does.
“Truly important and significant hypotheses will be found to have ‘assumptions’ that are wildly inaccurate descriptive representations of reality… The only relevant test of the validity of a hypothesis is comparison of its predictions with experience.”
— Friedman, 1953
This echoes the logical positivist attitude that the empirical consequences are what matter—whether a theory “matches reality” in some intuitive sense is secondary.
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Key Differences:
Logical Positivism Milton Friedman / Chicago School
Discipline Philosophy of language and science Economics
Main Concern Meaningfulness of statements; verification principle Predictive accuracy of economic models
View on Assumptions Assumptions must ideally correspond to observable facts Assumptions can be unrealistic if predictions are good
Attitude to Metaphysics Rejected as meaningless Not central—Friedman focused on policy relevance
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In short:
Friedman was not a logical positivist, but his methodological approach to economics—especially his focus on prediction over realism—shows a family resemblance to logical positivism’s emphasis on empirical testability.
Some critics even accused Friedman of smuggling in positivist thinking into economics, especially in the way he defended abstract models regardless of their assumptions. But Friedman himself did not explicitly align with the Vienna Circle or the verification principle.
Let me know if you want a quote from Popper or Hayek, both of whom offered important criticisms of logical positivism that also influenced Friedman.
Also grocery store prices are an excellent gauge because they can’t gouge. Profit margins are 1 or 2 percent
I consulted copilot…
Satoshi Nakamoto’s posts on Bitcointalk are like digital fossils — early traces of a revolutionary idea taking shape. Here’s a snapshot of what he shared:
🧠 Foundational Insights
• First Post (Feb 11, 2009): Satoshi introduced Bitcoin as a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” highlighting its potential to solve trust issues in traditional finance. He criticized central banks for debasing currency and emphasized the need for a decentralized alternative A.
• Forum Launch (Nov 22, 2009): He announced Bitcointalk.org as the new home for Bitcoin discussions, replacing the old SourceForge forum B.
• Logo Design (Feb 26, 2010): Satoshi asked the community for feedback on the now-iconic ₿ symbol with two vertical lines — a rare peek into his collaborative spirit A.
• Caution on Exposure (Dec 5, 2010): He warned against WikiLeaks adopting Bitcoin too early, fearing it would attract unwanted attention and jeopardize the project’s survival A.
🔍 Other Notable Posts
• He discussed technical topics like proof-of-work difficulty, anonymity, and transaction mechanics.
• His final post on Bitcointalk was in December 2010, after which he vanished from public view C.
If you’re curious, you can browse Satoshi’s full post archive — it’s like reading the blueprint of a financial revolution. Want to dive into one of his posts in detail? I’d love to unpack it with you.
I think he is under appreciated and recognized in bitcoin circles and conferences.
Definitely ignored by conservatives especially today
Friedman criticism was the Austrians were not empirical. He opposed hiring Hayek at university of Chicago economics department for this reason. He told Hayek you are not an economist.
I should also add he is a big fan of a Road to Serfdom and Human Action