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Episode 484: Geezer Presidents
In this episode, we examine what actually counts as a victimless crime and why the term is so often misused, using examples ranging from seatbelt and helmet laws to drugs, prostitution, and software piracy. We discuss how insurance markets price risk more effectively than regulation, and why many so-called crimes are really paperwork violations with no direct victims. We also look at the limits of automation through recent failures in self-driving technology, and highlight the Foolishness of the Week involving ideological monocultures in academia and the incentives that sustain them. The conversation then turns to the main topic of whether there should be an age limit for the presidency, weighing cognitive decline, longevity, institutional incentives, and why existing safeguards like the 25th Amendment rarely function as intended.
00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:29 What Counts as a Victimless Crime?
01:38 Insurance, Risk, and Who Really Pays
04:36 Drugs, Prostitution, and True Victimless Crimes
06:26 Regulatory Crimes vs Real Human Harm
07:53 Software Piracy and Intellectual Property
12:38 Waymo, Power Outages, and Self-Driving Failures
14:49 Foolishness of the Week: Academic Monocultures in Academia
17:10 Personal Stories of Academic Censorship
20:39 Main Topic: Should Presidents Have an Age Limit?
21:41 Biden, Trump, and Cognitive Decline
24:39 Living Longer, Dementia, and Modern Leadership Risks
29:34 Age Limits in Other Professions
33:00 The Age of Past Presidents When Initially Elected
37:35 Which Presidents Would Have Survived a Term Age Limit?
39:33 The 25th Amendment and Why It Rarely Works
40:57 Incentives, Power, and Presidential Succession
43:53 Closing Thoughts
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Published on 10 hours ago