Brian Gongol
Five years, later Eldred v. Ashcroft remains a bad decision
In October 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in Eldred v. Ashcroft that the preposterously long copyright extension granted by Congressional legislation was perfectly in tune with the Constitution. A long list of very smart people argued quite to the contrary. Unfortunately, they lost. And we're intellectually poorer as a result, because ideas are remaining locked up in copyright for much longer than makes any sort of economic sense.
Sleepwalking right into Big Brother's arms
"[I]magine what sort of state may emerge as the best brains of a secret police force ... perfect the art of gathering and using information on massive computer banks, not yellowing paper." The less human the scale of our police and intelligence work and the more mechanized it becomes, the more dangerous the potential errors and abuses. And there will always be errors and abuses.
Ugly politics and the rise of bad advice
Greg Mankiw observes that the more people become intent upon vilifying everyone else in politics, the less likely it will be that smart people outside of politics will offer their advice to politicians. That, as a result, makes everyone poorer.
Chicago Climate Exchange says it's the biggest greenhouse-gas reducer in the world
