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Fan Fiction vs. Copyright - Q&A with Rebecca Tushnet

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"It takes a big studio to make The Avengers, but it doesn't necessarily take a big studio to write a piece of Avengers fan fiction," says Georgetown University law professor and fan fiction advocate Rebecca Tushnet. "Big content companies largely recognize that fan activities are really good for them because they engage people."

The growing popularity of fan fiction, a genre in which fans create their own stories featuring characters or settings from their favorite works of popular culture, raises thorny copyright issues. "Given how broad copyright is now, it's now possible to say fan fiction is an infringing derivative work," Tushnet explains. "In order to deal with that...we now talk about fair use, which allows people to make fair, limited uses of works without permission from the copyright owner."

As a member of the Organization for Transformative Works, Tushnet works to defend fan fiction creators caught in the legal debate between protected intellectual property and fair use.

Nick Gillespie sat down with Tushnet to discuss copyright law, fan fiction, and why media companies should embrace fan-created works.

Approximately 7.34 minutes.

Interview by Nick Gillespie. Camera by Meredith Bragg and Joshua Swain. Editing by Swain.

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Ben Huh on the Culture, Morals, and Politics of the Internet

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"Internet culture is an absolute threat to existing power structures," says Ben Huh, CEO and founder of Cheezburger, the popular web humor brand responsible for I Can Haz Cheezburger, FailBlog, and much more. "Because people are finally realizing that they have power in their voice."

Reason.tv sat down with Huh to talk about internet culture, why the ability of individuals to create their own content is a good thing, the common ideology that should unite all internet users, and why we have to learn to live with internet trolls.

Approximately 4:30 minutes.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller.

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Author David Brin on Dogmatic Libertarians, Transparency, and Uplifting Dolphins

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"The issue should not be government. It should not be unlimited and unalloyed idolatry of personal property, which is the path that the libertarian movement has gone down," says David Brin, a science fiction writer and self-identified "heretical libertarian."

Brin sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to discuss his recent critiques of the libertarian movement, which he believes is being pushed in the wrong direction by dogmatic followers of Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard.

"Libertarians need to be reminded that, across 6,000 years, the greatest enemy of free enterprise, of market enterprise, innovation, creative competition... have always been oligarch," says Brin.

Brin also discussed the themes of his prescient book, The Transparent Society, which, among other things, predicted a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center before it happened. The interview wraps up with a discussion of the ethics of Brin's Uplift series, which imagines a future in which humans have enhanced the minds and bodies of dolphins and made them equal citizens of society.

About 10 minutes. Interview by Tim Cavanaugh. Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Paul Detrick, and Sharif Matar. Edited by Weissmueller.

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Matt Ridley on Ideas having Sex, Free Trade, & Apocalyptic Science w/ Reason's Kennedy

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

“[Some people] simply don’t believe that when two people trade one is not ripping the other off,” exclaims Matt Ridley, zoologist and author of The Rational Optimist. "A big problem with the world is that human beings find positive sum games difficult to understand."

Ridley sat down with Reason's Kennedy to discuss his thoughts on free trade, ideas having sex and the irrationality of apocalyptic science.

About 7 minutes.

Filmed by Anthony Fisher and Jim Epstein. Edited by Joshua Swain.

For more Ridley and Reason.tv click here and here.

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"Ideas Having Sex" A Conversation with John Tierney and Matt Ridley

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EDT

"Where ideas have sex, is in technologies," says author and biologist Matt Ridley, "we give far too much credit to individuals for innovation...all of them are standing on the shoulders of lots of other people."

Ridley discussed his views on trade, invention and creativity with the New York Times' John Tierney at a Reason Foundation event at the Museum of Sex in New York City on March 8, 2012.

The author of "The Rational Optimist," tells Tierney that "Every technology we possess has ideas that occurred to different people in different times and different places...most innovation happens by perspiration not inspiration, it's tinkering...rather than geniuses in ivory towers."

Tierney and Ridley also discuss how traders and businessmen, much maligned throughout history as exploiters and "social parasites," have actually contributed enormously to the spread of ideas and new technological breakthroughs. Ridley describes how Fibonacci, the son of an Italian trader who lived in North Africa, brought the Indian numeral system (the numbers we all know and love today) to Europe as one of the greatest tangible benefits of trade facilitating the exchange of ideas. Ridley implores the public to "Just stop knocking traders, they're great people, they do wonderful things."

Runs about 20.26 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher, shot by Jim Epstein and Fisher.

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What's New With Nanotech: A Presentation by Zyvex CEO Jim Von Ehr

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EST

"If we take the carbon atoms in this lump of coal, they're not worth very much because they are random and unstructured. But if we were to take those same atoms and rearrange them into a crystal, they're diamond," explains Zyvex CEO Jim Von Ehr.

The nanotech pioneer has committed his life to restructuring at the molecular level, and at Reason Weekend 2012, Reason Foundation's annual donor event, Von Ehr discussed his progress. He spoke about the future of nanotechnology in an array of industries, from medicine to transportation, as well as his obstacles concerning government regulation over his products and how he plans to overcome them.

About 33 minutes. Filmed by Joshua Swain and Anthony Fisher. Edited by Tracy Oppenheimer.

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Radley Balko talks HuffPo, Nashville, OWS, & Cory Maye

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST

"A story like the Cory Maye story is why you become a journalist," says former Reason staffer Radley Balko. "It's probably the most rewarding thing I'll ever do.” In 2006, Balko first reported on Cory Maye, a Mississippi man given a death sentence for shooting a police officer who was leading a no-knock raid on his apartment. Balko's continued coverage of the case, and the shakey testimony of expert witnesses, eventually led to Maye being released not just from Death Row but prison altogether. (For Balko's Reason archive, go here.)

Reason.tv caught up with Balko in Nashville, where he's been writing for the Huffington Post since May and helming The Nashville Byline, a blog that covers news and events in the Music City. He also continues to run The Agitator, his popular personal site.

In a wide-raning conversation, Balko discusses what working at the HuffPo is like, how Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring protesters are using social media to make government more transparent than ever, and why Nashville nannies sometime push restaurant owners into serving hard liquor rather than beer.

About 4 minutes long. Shot by Anthony Fisher and Joshua Swain; edited by Swain.

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Katherine Mangu-Ward Talks Drone Surveillance on CNN's Outfront

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST

Reason Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward appeared on CNN's Outfront with Erin Burnett to discuss new drone surveillance by police departments. Airdate: December 16, 2011.

Approximately 4:39 minutes.

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Mike Riggs Discusses Drum Circles, Guy Fawkes Posters, Halal Turkey, & Anonymous on Alyona's Happy Hour

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

Reason Associate Editor Mike Riggs appeared on the Alyona Show's Happy Hour to discuss whether drum circles constitute torture, a new Guy Fawkes poster, stealthy halal turkey and a war between Anonymous and government helping hackers. Airdate: November 21, 2011.

9.15 minutes.

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Singularity University: A School for Entrepreneurs Who Want to Change the World

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

Founded in 2009 by Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis, Singularity University is a start-up university in Silicon Valley. SU's mission is "...to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies to address humanity's challenges."

Singularity University is not your father's college.

In August of 2011, Reason.tv's Paul Feine and Alex Manning traveled to Singularity University to get to know a few of the 80 students who participated in SU's 10-week interdisciplinary summer graduate program. We encountered a fascinating group of young entrepreneurs who have big plans to use technology to help the world's poor…and make a profit!

Approximately 6 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

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Zombie Obama, a School Attending Robot, & a UFO Sighting - Mike Riggs Joins Alyona's Happy Hour

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Associate Editor Mike Riggs joined the Alyona Show's Happy Hour to discuss an eclectic mix of news from a GOP flyer depicting a zombified Obama, a woman posing naked inside a horse carcass, an allergy-stricken student using a robot to attend class, and a potential UFO sighting. Airdate: November 1, 2011.

9.10 minutes.

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Libertarians Without Borders: An Interview with Tom Palmer about the Arab Spring

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT

"The kindling, the material that has burst into flame in Syria, or Egypt, or Libya or Tunisia, are all different cases. But the spark that went from one to the other was common," says Atlas Economic Research Foundation's Tom Palmer.

Palmer speaks to Reason.tv's Matt Welch about liberty on a global scale, particularly in reference to revolutions in the Middle East this past year. "It's been a movement of astonishing courage and bravery," he says, "It has shown a demand for dignity."

Held each July in Las Vegas, FreedomFest is attended by roughly 2,000 libertarians and advocates of limited government. Reason.tv spoke with over two dozen speakers and attendees, and will be releasing interviews over the coming weeks. For an ever-growing playlist, go here now.

About 9 minutes. Shot by Zach Weissmueller and Jim Epstein, and edited by Tracy Oppenheimer.

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Want to Live Forever? Sonia Arrison Explains How In Her New Book

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT

"Everyone has an interest in this," explains Sonia Arrison author of a new book 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith, "because everyone has an interest in living healthier, longer."

Arrison sat down with Reason.tv to talk about the technological innovations and regenerative medicine that will fuel the the next "longevity revolution." She explains what people need to expect and how regulatory reforms are needed to speed the innovations up so that "we will be able to repair ourselves."

Interview by Reason's Paul Feine. Shot by Alex Manning and edited by Sharif Matar.

About 9.30 minutes long.

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How Drugs Helped Invent the Internet & The Singularity: Jason Silva on "Turning Into Gods"

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT

The Singularity Summit is the premiere futurist conference (it's happening in New York City on October 15 and 16).

Among the speakers is Current TV's Jason Silva, the director of the forthcoming documentary, Turning into Gods. Taking a page from Timothy Leary, the folks behind the Whole Earth Catalog, Ray Kurzweil, and other visionaries, Silva's work looks at the ways in technological progress is allowing humans to direct their own evolution. And the ways in which prohibitionists of all stripes push back on new ways of being human.

"People have always sort of been scared of new technologies," says Silva. "But in the end we assimilate them and they improve the quality of our lives."

Interview by Reason's Zach Weissmueller. Shot and edited by Sharif Matar. About 11 minutes long.

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George Gilder on "The Israel Test," the Internet, and...the Gays?

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EDT

"What [President Barack Obama] is doing to the U.S. energy economy couldn't be done with a nuclear bomb," says author George Gilder, who adds that if "Newt [Gingrich] wasn't such a jerk," he'd make a great leader.

Over the past 40 years, Gilder has been not just one of the most influential public intellectuals but one of the most perplexing. He's a utopian visionary who simultaneously predicted the rise of the World Wide Web and the liberatory power of networked computing while fretting that the erosion of traditional gender roles is destroying the country; as co-founder of The Discovery Institute, he's a major proponent of intelligent design theory as well.

His 1981 best-seller, Wealth and Poverty, made such a persuasive case for what became known as supply-side economics that it became the bible of the Reagan Revolution. In it, Gilder used the work of anthropologist Marcel Mauss to argue that capitalism is a "gift economy" in which entrepreneurs create demand by offering up new goods and services, typically at a loss. Visonary volumes such as Microcosm (1989) and Life After Television (1990) anticipated the rise of the Internet as a mass medium that would replace hierarchy with "hetarchy" or distributed intelligence and power. His latest book, The Israel Test, argues that anti-Semitism and the anti-capitalist mentality are effectively the same thing and that Israel provides the best-available model of social organization, a blend of knowledge-based economy and group identity.

A proponent of intelligent design, he railed against Barry Goldwater's anti-intellectualism in 1966's The Party That Lost Its Head and argued that American society was committing "sexual suicide" in a 1973 book of the same name by embracing female equality. The supposed existential threat posed by unmarried men in American society is a recurring theme in Gilder's oeuvre, as is the dread fear that gays are actively recruiting boys to the "homosexual lifestyle." Fully appreciating how the World Wide Web has broken the monopoly of the culture industry in our lives, Gilder nonetheless bemoans the state of "secular culture" as "corrupt" and "depraved."

At FreedomFest 2011, Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Gilder to talk about the mix of the utopian and the apocalyptic in his work.

Held each July in Las Vegas, FreedomFest is attended by around 2,000 libertarians and advocates of limited government. Reason.tv spoke with over two dozen speakers and attendees and will be releasing interviews over the coming weeks. For an ever-growing playlist, go here now.

About 21 minutes. Shot by Zach Weissmueller and Jim Epstein and edited by Meredith Bragg.

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Freedom, Science Fiction and the Singularity: A conversation with author Vernor Vinge

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EDT

Vernor Vinge is a former San Diego State University math professor and a Hugo award-winning science fiction novelist. In Vinge's 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity" Vinge wrote, "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended."

We sat down with Vinge to learn more about his influences, his novels and the coming singularity.

Vinge's latest novel, The Children of the Sky, will be released in October 2011.

Produced by Paul Feine, Alex Manning and Zach Weissmueller.

Approximately 7 minutes.

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Jay Beeber Defeats LA's Red Light Cameras

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Thanks to filmmaker and activist Jay Beeber, Angelenos will no longer live under the watchful irises of the city's red light cameras, which mostly just catch people making right turns on red.

"Seventy-five percent of this multi-million dollar program is going to try to change a behavior that doesnt actually cause any accidents," says Beeber.

Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh sat down with Beeber to discuss his one-man crusade to rid Los Angeles of red light cameras, which he says actually make intersections more dangerous and, incredibly, cost the city money despite promises of greater efficiency. Following this interview, Beeber and his group Safer Streets LA won their battle when the city council voted unanimously to end the red light camera program despite tough oppositiion from special interests and local politicians.

Interview by Tim Cavanaugh. Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Alex Manning, and Paul Detrick. Edited by Sharif Matar.

Approximately 8:30 minutes.

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Fighting the War on Cameras: Jerome Vorus and the ACLU take D.C. to Court

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Can the police detain you for taking pictures of a routine traffic stop? Police in Washington D.C. say they can.

In 2010, photographer and student Jerome Vorus was detained and questioned by police after he photographed a traffic stop in Georgetown. The ACLU says he was illegally detained and has filed a lawsuit on his behalf. Vorus recently sat down with Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie to discuss what happened that day and where his case currently stands.

With cameras and other recording devices becoming more affordable, cases like Vorus’ have become all too common. For more information on this disturbing trend, read Reason magazine's January 2011 cover story "The War on Cameras" with the companion piece "How to Record the Cops” and watch Reason.tv’s documentary “The Government’s War on Cameras!”

Shot by Jim Epstein and Joshua Swain. Edited by Swain. About 4.18 minutes.

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Peter Suderman Discusses the FDA Proposing to Regulate Medical Apps on Mobile Devices

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Associate Editor Peter Suderman appeared on Cavuto to discuss the FDA's recent proposal to regulate medical apps on mobile devices and argues regulation will create expensive products and limit consumer choices. Air date: 7/22/2011.

Approximately 3.44 minutes.

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Bitcoin & The End of State-Controlled Money: Q&A with Jerry Brito

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:00:00 EDT

Bitcoin is the world's first fully decentralized, peer-to-peer (p2p) virtual currency. It allows users to make anonymous and untraceable cash transactions anywhere in the world without any sort of real-world intermediary. So unlike PayPal and other online services, it can't be squeezed in the same way by governments or other control agents.

Created in 2009 by a shadowy figure who goes by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, there are currently about 6 million bitcoins in circulation. That number will eventually rise, in regular intervals, to a total of 21 million by 2033. A money system without any sort of central bank? A currency whose supply increases at a steady and predictable rate according to a concept elucidated by the Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman?

Just how revolutionary is Bitcoin?

Reason.tv sat down with Mercatus Senior Research Fellow Jerry Brito to learn how Bitcoin operates and what the implications are for traditional state-based fiat currencies. “Whether Bitcoin succeeds or fails is neither here nor there,” says Brito, who predicts that currencies in the future will almost certainly be deregulated and decentralized - with or without governments’ consent.

Read Brito on Bitcoin here and here. For responses to his critics and more info on Bitcoin, go here.

About 2.30 minutes.

Interview by Nick Gillespie; shot and edited by Joshua Swain.

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Nick Gillespie Discusses the Broken U.S. Postal Service with Judge Napolitano

Thu, 12 May 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason.tv's Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie joined Judge Napolitano on Freedom Watch to discuss the inefficient and tax-payer burdening United States Postal Service and whether or not it can be sold off. Airdate: May 11, 2011.

Approximately 4.10 minutes.

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Don't Ban DUI Checkpoint Apps!

Wed, 11 May 2011 10:00:00 EDT

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants to control your smartphone.

Yesterday, Schumer went after Google, Apple, and other smartphone-industry players who have refused to follow a "voluntary" request by him and Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) that they ban apps that show where police are setting up driving under the influence (DUI) checkpoints, speed traps, and the like.

State officials are applying similar pressure (and are also claiming that all requests for compliance are "voluntary"). Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, is pushing for bans and so is Maryland's Attorney General Doug Gansler, who likened the apps to "giving a robber the key and the alarm pad code to go rob a bank."

As a direct result of the pressure, Research in Motion, maker of Blackberry products, blocked the apps.

But are apps that give citizens more information about what law enforcement is up to a bad thing? They clearly fall under First Amendment guarantees of free expression (that's why lawmakers are saying their requests are "voluntary"). But perhaps more important, such apps actually minimize drunk driving and speeding - which is one of the reasons why police in places such as Travis County, Texas, are the ones entering the information for DUI checkpoint apps such as Trapster. As a Travis County cop puts it, if he can stop the problematic behavior without writing tickets or hauling people in, everybody is better off.

That's an irony that's lost on bullying pols such as Schumer, Biden, and others. But it's one of the reasons why the audience for such apps continues to grow.

Approximately 3.27 minutes. Featuring Cato Institute policy analyst Julian Sanchez and President of the Association for Competitive Technology Jonathan Zuck.

Produced by Joshua Swain with Nick Gillespie, who also narrates. Filmed by Swain and Jim Epstein.

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Nick Gillespie Talks Selling Off the Post Office on Varney & Co.

Wed, 11 May 2011 09:30:00 EDT

Reason.tv's Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business Network's Varney & Co. to discuss selling off the U.S. Postal Service. Airdate: May 11, 2011.

Approximately 4:45 minutes.

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Matt Welch Talks Obamacare Switch to Electronic Medical Records

Fri, 06 May 2011 03:00:00 EDT

Reason Magazine Editor in Chief, Matt Welch appeared on Varney & Co. to discuss a mandate in President Obama's healthcare bill that would force doctors to switch to electronic medical records. Air date: May 5, 2011.

Approximately 5:30 minutes.

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Radley Balko Discusses Recording the Police with Stossel

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko appeared on Fox Business' Stossel to discuss how technology has made it easier for people to film police misconduct and how cops have declared a war on cameras. Air date: April 21, 2011.

Approximately 8.25 minutes.

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Radley Balko on the 3 Worst Cases of Police Abuse in 2011

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Due to the violence depicted and discussed in this video, viewer discretion is advised.

The 1991 beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles Police Department, which came to light after being caught on video by a citizen trying out a video camera, ushered in a new age of transparency and openness when it comes to law enforcement.

Since then, sound and vision from any number of sources - including cell-phone cams and pocket recorders, not to mention footage shot by police themselves - have captured law enforcement in action in a wide range of circumstances. Sometimes, the footage exonerates the police and sometimes it incriminates them. Always, though, we as citizens gain from having a better sense of how law enforcement operates, even (or especially) when what we see is hugely disturbing.

Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie talked with Reason columnist Radley Balko, proprietor of The Agitator and a long-time student of the increasing militarization of police. We asked Balko to talk about he thinks are the three most-schocking videos of police abuse that have come to light so far in 2011.

Ironically, Balko notes that widespread video of police at work gives rise to the misimpression that such violent abuse is on the rise while police are almost certainly more respectful of civil liberties than they were 50 or 60 years ago. He argues that it's precisely because citizens and watchdogs (including many with the law enforcement community) have more tools at their disposal to ferret out abuse that better practices are being employed.

Approximately 5.30 minutes. Shot and edited by Josh Swain, with camera assists by Meredith Bragg and Jim Epstein.

For longer videos of the incidents show in the interview, go here (Utah police kill a man brandishing a golf club); here (Seattle police shoot and kill homeless man); and here (Michigan police caught on tape discussing unwarranted seizer of musician's equipment).

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Veronique de Rugy Discusses The Truth About Nuclear Power on Bloomberg

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Editor’s Note: Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy appears weekly on Bloomberg TV to separate economic fact from economic myth.

Myth 1: Nuclear power is a cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

Fact 1: It isn’t.

As Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute wrote in Reason magazine in 2009, “Nuclear energy is to the Right what solar energy is to the Left: Religious devotion in practice, a wonderful technology in theory, but an economic white elephant in fact (some crossovers on both sides notwithstanding). When the day comes that the electricity from solar or nuclear power plants is worth more than the costs associated with generating it, I will be as happy as the next Greenpeace member (in the case of the former) or MIT graduate (in the case of the latter) to support either technology.”

Until that time comes, producing nuclear energy remains a very costly business.

The chart above uses data from a 2009 interdisciplinary study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to compare the costs of generating a kilowatt hour of electricity using nuclear, coal, and gas power. Looking at this data, the cost differential is clear—nuclear-powered energy costs 14 percent more than gas to produce a unit of electricity, and it costs 30 percent more than coal. Furthermore, according to Gilbert Metcaf’s recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper on energy, this increased cost of nuclear energy includes a baked-in taxpayer subsidy of nearly 50 percent of nuclear power’s operating costs.

While the nuclear industry in the United States has seen continued improvements in operating performance over time, it remains uncompetitive with coal and natural gas on the basis of price. This cost differential is primarily the result of high capital costs and long construction times. Indeed, building a nuclear power plant in the United States has cost, on average, three times as was originally estimated.

The United States Energy Information Administration estimates that these cost trends will continue for the near future.

This chart compares the projected costs of generating electricity in the year 2016 using various sources. As you can see, nuclear power remains more expensive than other conventional forms of power.

As Taylor notes, this is why nuclear power has only flourished in countries where the government has intervened on its behalf.

Myth 2: Risk is the main problem with nuclear power.

Fact 2: Cost is the main problem, not risk.

Radiation is terrifying to most people. And like most things, the less you actually know about it, the more frightening it can be.

Safety is certainly a critical issue, as the tragedy in Japan makes clear. However, so far the death toll from the current nuclear crisis in Japan is zero.

The chart above uses data compiled from various sources to compare the deaths per terawatt of energy produced. Deaths resulting from the production of nuclear power are over 4000 times less than the rate of death resulting from the production of energy from coal.

Writing in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Bernard Cohen, a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh, puts the risk from nuclear power into context, comparing the relative risk of nuclear power to other activities. He used a one-in-a-million chance of increased risk of premature death as a standard. His calculations indicate that if one lived at the boundary of a nuclear power plant for five years, there would be an increased risk of premature death from nuclear radiation of one in a million. That risk would decline significantly as one moved further away from the plant.

Put differently, Cohen found that the risk of living next to a nuclear power plant is comparable to the risk incurred from riding 10 miles on a bicycle, riding 300 miles in an automobile, or riding 1,000 miles in an airplane.

In fact, Steven Chu, President Barack Obama’s energy secretary, has made it clear he doesn’t think nuclear power is dangerous per se. When asked to compare coal and nuclear energy in 2009, Chu responded: “I’d rather be living near a nuclear power plant.”

That being said, what happened in Japan reminds us that while nuclear doesn’t kill people on a yearly basis, it has the potential to be very lethal under certain circumstances. However, the idea of risk-free world is unrealistic because unanticipated vulnerabilities are inevitable in any complex system. Future technologies may reduce the chance of some terrible disaster but it won’t ever eliminate it completely. Like all other sources of energy, nuclear power entails some risk.

Myth 3: The spread of nuclear power has stalled in the U.S. due to a hostile regulatory environment.

Fact 3: Nuclear power has stalled because it is simply not profitable.

Many Americans argue that government regulations are the real reason why nuclear power is so expensive. As evidence, they point out that in France, where there is more opportunity to build nuclear power plants, nuclear power is safe and affordable.

It is true that France gets about 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. It is also true that the country has avoided a large-scale disaster due to the many safety regulations it has imposed, most of which are similar to regulations enacted in the U.S.

However, producing nuclear energy in France is not any cheaper than it is here. The chart above shows, in U.S. dollars, the parity between the costs of generating nuclear power in the United States (which has a relatively strict regulatory regime) and France (which has a relatively loose one).

The chart presents a range of estimates of the costs of nuclear reactors in the two countries gathered by Mark Cooper, a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law School. As Cooper found, the ranges overlap: France’s estimated cost of a kilowatt of power is between $4,500 and $5,000; the United States’ estimated cost for this unit of power is between $4,000 and $6,000.

From the start of commercial nuclear reactor construction in the mid-1960s through the 1980s, capital costs (dollars per kilowatt of capacity) for building nuclear reactors rose dramatically. Although unit costs for technology usually decrease with volume of production because of scale factors and technological learning, nuclear power has gone in the opposite direction. This exception to the rule is usually attributed to the idiosyncrasies of the nuclear regulatory environment as public opposition grew, laws were tightened, and construction times increased.

As a result, no new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States in 29 years. Nuclear has proven to be a poor investment, producing far more expensive electricity than originally promised.

Myth 4: Nuclear power is the key to energy independence.

Fact 4: More nuclear doesn’t mean less oil.

On last Sunday’s Meet the Press, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) cited America’s need to get off of foreign oil as a strong reason for pursuing nuclear power.

Setting aside the misguided goal of so-called energy independence, Schumer is still wrong. Oil is primarily used in vehicles and in industrial production. Nuclear power is primarily used for electricity.

As the chart below illustrates, data from the United States Energy Information Administration shows that the vast majority of our electricity comes from non-oil sources.

Interestingly, according Michael Levi, a senior fellow and director of the program on energy security and climate change at the Council on Foreign Relations, it wasn’t always the case. “During the heyday of nuclear power, the early 1970s (45 plants broke ground between 1970 and 1975),” Levi writes, “oil was a big electricity source, and boosting nuclear power was a real way to squeeze petroleum out of the economy. Alas, we’ve already replaced pretty much all the petroleum in the power sector; the opportunity to substitute oil with nuclear power is gone.”

Perhaps more importantly, less than 1 percent of the oil used in the United States today goes to generate electricity while 70 percent is consumed by the transportation sector, with roughly 30 percent of oil being used by the residential and industrial sectors.

The bottom line is that more nuclear power would mean less coal, less natural gas, less hydroelectric power, and less wind energy. But more nuclear won’t mean less oil.

Am I against nuclear power? It certainly looks like nuclear can never be a sustainable source of energy because it is just too expensive. And while it is a safe source of energy overall, there are tremendous risks in those instances where something goes disastrously wrong. The probability of such a dire scenario may be low, but the need to build-in protections against it will always raise the cost of producing nuclear power.

But more importantly, what I am against is the government deciding that nuclear power must be encouraged and then subsidizing the industry. On that point, I leave the last word to Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey.

“The main problem with energy supply systems is that for the last 100 years, governments have insisted on meddling with them, using subsidies, setting rates, and picking technologies,” Bailey observes. “Consequently, entrepreneurs, consumers, and especially policymakers have no idea which power supply technologies actually provide the best balance between cost-effectiveness and safety. In any case, let’s hope that the current nuclear disaster will not substantially add to the terrible woes the Japanese must bear as a result of nature’s fickle cruelty.”

Contributing Editor Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Jeb Bush on Disrupting the Education Monopoly

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:44:00 EST

As governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, Jeb Bush championed school choice. His first year in office he created a program that offered vouchers to students in failing schools. The program successfully boosted student achievement until it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2006. Two other Bush-supported programs -- one that offers tax credits to business that help send low-income kids to private schools and another that gives vouchers to disabled students -– survived the high-court ruling. Bush also expanded the Florida Virtual School, a national model for online public education.

Since leaving office, Bush has promoted his reform agenda in other states. He founded the Foundation for Excellence in Education and serves as co-chair of the Digital Learning Council.

Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Bush at the National Summit on Education Reform in Washington, D.C., to talk about how information technology can help break the education monopoly.

This interview is part of National School Choice Week, an initiative to raise awareness of how competition and choice can transform public education.

Approximately 6.30 minutes. Filmed by Jim Epstein and Meredith Bragg, and edited by Epstein.

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Using Cameras to Fight Human Rights Abuses: Yvette Alberdingk Thijm of WITNESS

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:00:00 EST

In 1988, musician and activist Peter Gabriel traveled the world with Amnesty International's "Human Rights Now!" tour. He brought a big, bulky camcorder with him and used it to interview victims of human rights abuses. Gabriel realized that capturing those stories made it harder for them to be forgotten, and that's what spurred him to found WITNESS, a Brooklyn-based human rights organization.

"The aim is always to turn a personal story of abuse into a powerful tool for justice," says Executive Director Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, who sat down with Reason.tv to discuss how WITNESS uses the power of video to fight human rights abuses around the world.

Approximately 6 minutes.

Interviewed by Hawk Jensen who also edited. Shot by Jim Epstein.

Additional footage provided by: WITNESS.ORG. Photo Credit: Kate Glicksberg

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Author Zack Lynch on How Neuroscience Will Change the World

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Does free will have a place in the neuromarketing revolution? Is mankind poised to drastically reshape our ability to read and control the brain? Does the government have a role in helping this fledgling science flourish?

Zack Lynch, the author of The Neuro Revolution, sat down with Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie to discuss the future of neuroscience and how it will affect every aspect of our lives.

Approximately 9.20 minutes.

Shot by Meredith Bragg and Dan Hayes. Edited by Meredith Bragg.

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Young World Revolution! - Youth, Technology and Business with Rob Salkowitz

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT

What can global business leaders learn from a 14-year-old kid in a cyber cafe in Bangalore, India?

Just about everything, says Rob Salkowitz, author of Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World from the Bottom Up.

Reason.tv's Dan Hayes sat down to talk with Salkowitz about Suhas Gopinath, an entrepreneur who started a multimillion dollar business out of a cyber cafe in India at age 14. Salkowitz says young, tech-savvy entreprenuers like Gopinath represent a changing dynamic that global business leaders ignore at their own peril. Understanding this "young world" is critical for making money, developing new business models and combating social problems.

Salkowitz says that the lower cost of entry in the tech world provides unprecendented opportunity to young people in emerging markets. "You don't have to work in the t-shirt factory, you don't need to work in the mine. If you can figure this out you can earn a decent living for yourself in diginified working conditions, give employment to other people, and move society forward in better and different ways."

Approximately 9.30 minutes. Shot by Meredith Bragg and Josh Swain. Edited by Swain.

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The Reason iPhone App

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EDT

If you want to watch the inevitable trainwreck that is politics unfold, there's an app for that.

If you like your acerbic political commentary with a touch of '70s rock nostalgia, there's an app for that.

If you want to email your disaffected congressional leaders, there's an app for that.

And if you want to find out whose ass to kick...there's an app for that.

Free Minds and Free Markets. Free in the App Store now.

The Reason iPhone App keeps you up to date with the latest news and views from the Reason staff wherever you are.

Compatible with the iPhone, iPhone 3GS, and iPod Touch, the Reason App downloads and syncs Reason's content to your device in real time.

The Reason app is free and available at iTunes. Download it now!

Features include:

Access to fresh content from Hit & Run, Reason.com (including Brickbats), Reason.tv, and Reason.org;
Simple Save and Share functionality for all text and video content;
Smooth navigation between and within sections;
Secure Donations page.

Video produced by Austin Bragg.

3 Reasons The FCC Shouldn't Touch The Internets!

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:00:00 EDT

The FCC has just taken initial steps to regulate the Internet service providers the same way it regulates telephone companies. Although Chairman Julius Genachowski has said he would use any regulatory powers with a "light touch," having the FCC control any aspect of the Internet is a really bad idea for at least three reasons.

Written and produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie (who also hosts). Approximately 2.15 minutes.

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Peter Diamandis on The X PRIZE and Private Space Flight

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:00:00 EDT

His Zero Gravity Corporation lets the public experience weightlessness during parabolic flight, and his company Space Adventures has taken four tourists to the International Space Station.

But space entrepreneur Peter Diamandis may be best known as the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which in 2004 awarded the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE to aviation icon Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne was the first private, manned spacecraft to reach suborbital space twice within two weeks.

Diamandis is on a mission to open space for all humanity, and he embraces the risk inherent to such an undertaking. "A true breakthrough requires tremendous levels of risk," says Diamandis. "It's really in the entrepreneurial sector that people are willing to risk their lives, risk their fortunes, their reputations, to do something they fundamentally believe they can do."

Diamandis is now developing X PRIZES in a variety of fields, including education and medicine.

Produced and interviewed by Ted Balaker; filmed by Hawk Jensen and Alex Manning; edited by Jensen and Paul Detrick.

Approximately 10 minutes long.

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How iPad Technology and iPhone Apps Expand Liberty

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 07:00:00 EDT

Got a pothole? There's an app for that. Need a medical marijuana dispensary? There's an app for that, too.

Reason.tv's Ted Balaker sat down with Matt Harrison and Justin Hartfield of the Prometheus Institute to discuss how new technology can expand liberty. Harrison and Hartfield are the creators of the Do-it-Yourself Democracy iPhone application, which allows users to expose government waste, organize protests, or simply hector officials into finally fixing a long-neglected pothole.

Hartfield is also the creator of WeedMaps.com, a site and iPhone app that locates medical marijuana dispensaries and allows users to interact with other medical marijuana patients.

Other topics include: Revamping classic libertarian books with iPad technology and how Steve Jobs manages to be both an uber-capitalist and a progressive hero.

Interview by Ted Balaker. Shot by Alex Manning, Hawk Jensen, and Paul Detrick. Edited by Paul Detrick. Music: "Get What You Want?" by Beight (Magnatune Records).

Just under 10 minutes. Scroll down for iPod, HD, and audio versions of this video.

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Net Neutrality for Dummies

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:00:00 EST

Al Gore says that legislation ensuring "net neutrality" is "needed for the revitalization of American democracy." Techno-vegan Moby says without it, the "egalitarian" Internet would disappear. Even Mallory from Family Ties, Justine Bateman, thinks "the freedom to access the site of any organization from Planned Parenthood to the Christian Coalition is going to end."

But just what the hell is net neutrality—and is all that is good and holy about the Internet really imperiled if legislation guaranteeing it isn't passed? Network neutrality is necessary, say its supporters, to make certain that all data on the Internet is treated equally and to protect users from information discrimination on the part of Internet service providers who will slow down or even block access to certain sites.

Reason.tv's Michael C. Moynihan takes a skeptical look at the growing push for net neutrality legislation and asks Peter Suderman, a Reason associate editor who is closely following proposals on the topic, why Moby and Mallory want the Federal Communication Commission, of all agencies, to regulate the Internet.

Approximalely 4 minutes. Written by Moynihan. Shot and edited by Dan Hayes and Meredith Bragg.

Be Happy!: Why this is the best holiday season ever.

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST

We're going through some tough economic times right now, but this holiday season, take a moment to appreciate how good we really have it.

Need proof? Just think about how much Christmas presents sucked in the 1970s compared to today.

Thanks to our market-based system, we're wealthier, we have more choices, and we enjoy more leisure time than ever before.

From all of us at Reason.tv, happy holidays!

Produced by Paul Feine and Hawk Jensen. Hosted by Nick Gillespie.

Approximately 1.45 minutes.

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The Flaw of Averages

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EDT

Have you heard the one about the river-crossing statistician who drowns after determining that the water is, on average, only three feet deep? This, says author Sam L. Savage, is just one example of the flaw of averages.

But don't despair, Savage writes in The Flaw of Averages: Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty. There are sensible ways to make judgments involving uncertainty and risk. Reason senior editor Michael C. Moynihan met up with Savage to discuss the "seven deadly sins" of averages and how a greater understanding of these flaws could prevent future financial meltdowns.

Approximately 4:30. Shot by Dan Hayes and edited by Meredith Bragg.

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Jerome Tuccille

dan.hayes@reason.org (Dan Hayes) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

In 1972, Jerome Tuccille published It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand, his memoir of the libertarian movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Palling around with the likes of economist Murray Rothbard, former Goldwater speechwriter Karl Hess, and others, Tuccille sought to fashion a left-right coalition between elements of the New Left and and the Old Right.

It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand is at once whimsical and moving, poignant and penetrating in its insights about political movements and personal failures. Re-released in a new and expanded edition last year, it remains required reading for anyone interested in the libertarian movement—or the American political scene of the past 40 years.

Since 1972, Tuccille has kept busy writing books such as Trump, Alan Shrugged: Alan Greenspan, the World's Most Powerful Banker, and Heretic: Confessions of an Ex-Catholic Rebel. His latest volume is the new and eminently readable Gallery of Fools: The True Story of a Celebrated Manhattan Art Theft, which follows the author's unlikely and unwitting participation after-the-fact in a major New York art heist.

The always outspoken and controversial Tuccille recently sat down with reason.tv to discuss the influence and reach of Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, and Milton Friedman. And to talk about how libertarian ideas—and the Libertarian Party—may have a major impact on the 2008 presidential race.

Mexicans and Machines

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:00:00 EDT

Campaign season is just getting warmed up, but looking back on the primaries we’ve already seen plenty of the usual fare: candidates shaking hands, hanging out at diners, and scaring voters about foreigners who are taking your jobs.

Sometimes the threat comes from China, Japan, or outsourcing to India. Today, it’s NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement—you know, all those Mexicans taking our jobs.

Senator Barack Obama joins the likes of CNN’s Lou Dobbs in decrying NAFTA. So many free trade foes fret about cheap foreign labor, yet they rarely holler about competitors who will work for far less than any foreigner. Politicians don’t pay much attention to it, but—from Terminator to Ice Pirates—Hollywood films have been warning us about humanity’s inevitable war against the machines.

“Now, think about it,” says Reason.tv host Drew Carey. “How are we supposed to compete against something that doesn’t get paid, doesn’t get health insurance, and never goes on breaks?”

Today, we don't need human workers to book our travel, do our banking, or file our taxes. From factory workers to symphony conductors, countless workers are locked in battle with soulless job stealers known as computers, websites, and robots.

“No job is safe from the robot threat!” warns Carey. Of course, the warning is more than a little tongue-in-cheek. There’s no need to take a sledgehammer to a robot, because, although technology shakes up the labor market, it ends up giving us higher living standards as well as more and better job opportunities.

Like technology, trade gives us more good stuff than bad—yet Americans are likely to cheer technology and fear trade. No doubt TV talkers and White House wannabes will keep stoking our fears of foreigners until voters and viewers stop buying it—or until robots snag their jobs, too.