PUP001 | Interview with Stephan Kinsella

Prometheus Unbound Podcast

At long last, here is the first episode of our new, original podcast.

First, Matthew and I break the ice by briefly talking about what we’ve been reading recently. I had just finished Kameron Hurley’s debut novel God’s War. Overall, I think it’s a good effort with an interesting story and world-building but is not without its flaws. Matthew had recently finished Live Free or Die by John Ringo. It was a 2011 Prometheus Award finalist, not a winner as I mistakenly thought while recording the podcast and, according to Matthew, didn’t deserve to be.

Our interview with Stephan takes up most of the episode. It’s around 53 minutes long and starts 9:40 minutes in. For those who don’t already know him, Stephan Kinsella is a patent attorney and prominent libertarian legal scholar. He is best known for his opposition to intellectual property.

We invited Stephan on the show to discuss the problems of intellectual property and piracy in the Digital Age. But first we had to ask him about his love of science fiction and fantasy. We got him to mention some of his favorite authors and books (see below for a list), and we even talked about the Hobbit movie for a bit.

Then, at about 23:15 in, we dove into the meat of the interview. Stephan explained the historical origin of copyright (censorship) and patents (government grants of monopoly privilege, which is what copyright is now too really), how intellectual property has shaped and distorted the film and publishing industries, including Hollywood’s move to California to avoid patent disputes, and why reform is not enough. We also discussed how the Digital Age — the age of the internet, smartphone, ereader, and globalization — is making the evils of copyright and patents more obvious and acute while at the same time undermining traditional business models built around intellectual property. And finally, we explore ways artistic creators might earn a living in a world without intellectual property laws.

Stephan Kinsella, IP Man
Stephan Kinsella, IP Man

More about Stephan Kinsella and Intellectual Property

Authors and Books Recommended by Stephan Kinsella

Subscribe to the Podcast (Free)
Subscribe to the Podcast-Only RSS Feed
Listen on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad
Subscribe in Miro
Subscribe in Stitcher
Add us to your favorites on TuneIn Radio
Listen on your Blackberry

Help Promote the Podcast by Sharing this Post

Send to Kindle
Send Us Feedback

We’d love to hear what you think about the show and the topics we cover as well as any questions you may have.

You can send us voicemail feedback by calling 225-257-9596 or by using the Google Voice widget below:

Or you can email us at feedback+podcast@prometheus-unbound.org.

Get a Free Audiobook and Help Support the Podcast

Visit http://audibletrial.com/prometheusunbound for a free trial membership.

Acknowledgements

Music by Dale Abshire.
Podcast logo and website banner by Jenny Hamson.

About the Author

Geoffrey Allan Plauché Executive Editor

Geoffrey is an Aristotelian-Liberal political philosopher, an adjunct instructor for Buena Vista University, the founder and executive editor of Prometheus Unbound, and the webmaster of The Libertarian Standard. His work has appeared in Libertarian Papers, the Journal of Libertarian Studies, the Journal of Value Inquiry, and Transformers and Philosophy. He lives in Edgewood, KY with his wife and two children.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • nalle January 28, 2013 @ 12:17 am |

    I enjoyed the podcast guys. Great work! In the future I would love to see really indeph discussions of art and science fiction not only in the written but also film.

    • Matthew Alexander January 28, 2013 @ 8:16 am |

      Thanks, nalle! Some of our podcasts will be interviews, others will be discussions having to do with exactly that: libertarianism, science fiction, fantasy and the like in different media. The next one will be a discussion episode and will be out soon.

      Thanks for listening!

Next Post:

Previous Post:

Other Podcast RSS Feeds
Interview-Only
Discussion-Only
Libertarian Tradition–Only

Support Prometheus Unbound




Donate toward our web hosting bill!




Get 1 FREE Audiobook from Audible with 30;Day FREE Trial Membership


We recommend Scrivener as the best content-generation tool for writers.