Glenn H. Reynolds in the New York Post suggests a new way of countering misinformation: instead of elites “protecting” the rest of society through censorship against ideas they deem dangerous, why not reduce the powers held by big businesses, big universities and big governments. That is because, writes Reynolds, their influence is all-too easily bought and they absorb – and circulate – the opposite of the truth.
At Least He Paid his Losing Bet
Paul Ehrlich, author of the spectacularly incorrect 1968 best-seller The Population Bomb, recently died at 93. Despite his longevity, Ronald Bailey points out in Reason, Ehrlich did not live to see even one of his numerous apocalyptic predictions come true. The world’s population certainly grew, but not merely larger, richer and fatter too. Most famously, Ehrlich once bet economist Julian Simon that the world was approaching economic collapse – but in 1990 had to mail Simon a cheque.
