Models of Free Speech

 

Which ones feel most important?

Marketplace of Ideas

The most important model of free speech to me is the Marketplace of Ideas. I think pitting different ideas against each other is the best way to make progress. Good ideas will defend themselves against evidence, bad ideas will be destroyed by it. In the marketplace of ideas there is no need for regulation because everything will sort itself out naturally. Some people worry about some bad ideas being dangerous, but society will ensure that ideas wrong enough to be dangerous will be ostracized. Even though ideas don’t need explicit regulatory defending though, what does need defending is that lack of defending. There are a lot of people in this world who would like to impose their political, religious, or other ideological philosophies upon others via legal means, bypassing the Marketplace to achieve hegemony. This needs to be defended against at all costs.

 

Which ones feel most personal to you?

Protect Dissent

Protection of Dissent feels very personal to me because I personally hold a lot of ideas that might go against the majority standpoint. If I was not allowed to have these ideas, I honestly don’t know what I would do. I expect there are a lot of people like that in this world, and if we all had our ideas censored for not aligning with the majority there would be a lot of unhappy people and a lot less ideas. Furthermore, it would be dangerous if the ones imposing those ideas were the government. It’s dangerous because unlike normal people, the government would have the ability to issue punishments for dissent, which would put anyone who criticizes them in danger. That doesn’t stop the government from making the occasional bid to seize control of thought, though. This must be guarded against to the best of our ability.

 

Which one do you see in action today?

Promote Innovation

The Promotion of Innovation has been particularly apparent over the past few decades. Our rapidly increasing ability to communicate with each other has coincided with a rapidly increase in technological innovation and improvements to the human condition. The better technology leads to better communication, and it all snowballs over time. Because of our freedom of speech our ideas about technology and science have been able to spread all around the world, ensuring that they reach the people who can use them best. Our unprecedented level of communication is perhaps the greatest achievement of human history, and it’s all made possible by the snowball of innovation.

 

Perhaps the technology we are all the most reliant on nowadays is the internet. It fuels our modern existence. Even if you aren’t an avid internet user you still benefit from the good it does for humanity. It allowing us to communicate globally has massively increased education, its ability to tie technology together has improved our public services, and it’s lead to a new renaissance of art and culture. This, I think, is best reflected in the theory of Promotion of Innovation. Free speech is what allowed the visionaries who create and use the internet to operate with full effectiveness. Without their ideas being stifled, they can create whatever technology and art they want. This is the perfect representation of what free speech should be.

Supreme Court Video Reflection

 

 

What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?

I wouldn’t say I learned much from this video specifically. Most of the content was either covered in class or I already knew. There was one thing I hadn’t really thought about before, and that is the role of the litigants in a Supreme Court case. I feel like we often think of the litigants are arguing with each other in court and the judge presides over them and determines an outcome. I suppose once a case gets all the way to the Supreme Court though, the matter is more a question of interpretation of law rather than interpretation of facts. With that in mind, the litigants almost serve more as proxies for the judges to argue with each other as to how the law should be interpreted, because as far as the Supreme Court is concerned that interpretation is far more important in the long run that whatever particular case they happen to be arguing.

 

What is the most important take-away point about the Supreme Court?

 I think the most important takeaway is that the judges are people just like the rest of us, and they make decisions just like the rest of us. Sometimes those decisions are good, sometimes their bad. Either way I don’t think their decisions should be held up as gospel never to be challenged.

 

What was the most surprising thing you learned?

 Again, I didn’t really learn much. It is interesting to consider how presidents have been packing the courts since the very beginning though. In the video one of the judges insisted that must judges aren’t afraid to assert their independence pretty quickly. I wonder if that’s actually the case?

 

How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?

I think it brought a further aspect of humanity to the justices. It’s really easy to put them up on a pedestal like they’re entities of law that are above us all. They’re not really though. They’re just people. They feel happy and sad like the rest of us. They eat and sleep like the rest of us. They get stressed out like the rest of us. I think it’s important to remember that no matter how important a person may be, they’re still a person at their core.

Top 5 News Sources

 

I’m not really a big fan of national or world news. It makes me sad and angry to a degree that I don’t think staying informed in worth. I would be happy to share my favorite sources of news for tech though.

 

 

 

 

The Hacker News

https://thehackernews.com/

 

Not to be confused with “Hacker News” (by Y Combinator), The Hacker News provides countless articles on all the latest goings on in the cyber security world. They’ll tell you all about the latest hacks and malware, and well as any potentially disruptive events or inventions. It’s really good to pay attention to if you want to be very scared of computers.

 

 

 

Techquickie

https://www.youtube.com/@techquickie

 

Techquickie is a Youtube channel that gives a high-level overview of all the current affairs in tech. They talk about hardware releases, high profile hacks, operating system updates, and just about everything else. They are a part of the Linus Media Group, which has been known to have some issues with information integrity in the past. But Techquickie is so broad and surface level that they don’t get many opportunities to get things wrong.

 

 

 

Gamers Nexus

https://www.youtube.com/@GamersNexus/

 

Gamers Nexus is another Youtube channel. They are particularly focused on testing the latest hardware to determine how well it performs with gaming. They are particularly good at catching when companies like Nvidia and Intel are lying about their hardware specs (and when other tech channels/sites are too). They are a good channel to watch if you’re in the market to buy or upgrade your pc and want to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

 

 

The Stack Overflow Blog

https://stackoverflow.blog/

 

This is more of an ironic inclusion. Every programmer worth their salt will swear by the Stack Overflow forums until the day they die, so it’s ironic how the company that runs those forums consistently has some of the worst opinions in all of programming. Normally their blog posts are pretty bland and tame, but every once in a while, they post some whacky sh*t and it’s fun to watch the dumpster fire when that happens.

 

 

 

 

The Primeagen

https://www.twitch.tv/theprimeagen

 

The Primeagen is a Twitch streamer and former Netflix engineer. He’s technically more of a reaction channel than a news site since he often reacts to and talk abouts articles from other sites. I’m including him though because his experience in the industry gives him a level of insight that significantly adds to the overall experience. He likes to cover the latest developments in programming languages, software products, and programming architecture. He also often hosts guests from all around the programming industry to share their insights too.