Bon Appetit!

What you eat can kill you!

Sure, that is pretty common knowledge, and scary- but it's also natural and normal. It certainly is no one's business but your own.

You could eat the healthiest diet possible- and choke to death. And few people agree to any great degree what the "healthiest diet possible" really is, anyway. Even now.

Some foods contain bacteria that could make some people sick under the right (wrong?) circumstances. Some foods can contain prions that can cause trouble. Some foods will cause you to get really fat or die of heart disease if you eat too much of them. Some foods probably even contribute to cancer!

Of course, all those things were more of a concern back when The State kept medical care expensive, rationed, and "behind the times", but even now some people eat themselves to death in one way or another.

And that is their choice. Friends and loved ones will sometimes mention the obvious. But if they get too pushy they could find themselves facing arbitration. A person who wants help can find it. If not- that is between them and anyone whom they might hire to insure their life and health, or have other contractual obligations with.

If someone wants to eat something, someone else will be willing to provide it for a price. As long as it initiates no force, obviously. Consensual trade between self-responsible individuals. Let the customer know what they are getting, and finding out the consequences of their food choice is up to them. That's pretty easy, though, with modern technology.

If any vendor of "raw milk products" found herself the victim of a raid by armed thugs, she would shoot back, using equally-effective weaponry, confident that (if she survived the fight with her home-turf advantage) any surviving thugs would find themselves crushed under a mountain of debt and obligation that they would be unlikely to ever fully repay. I've read that this wasn't always the case.

In the case of contaminated foods, liability for any harm caused is good incentive to take pains to prevent it. Therefore several inspection services are available for hire by food providers or their insurers. Competition, and a desire for a powerful reputation, keeps inspectors innovating and pushing the cleanliness envelope- in ways that make the food provider's life and job easier at the same time. It's a good system. And it provides for some spectacularly wonderful things to eat out there! Enjoy!

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FurLumpz and other "new" species

One of the most amusing (to me, personally) trends in Libertopia are the genetically-engineered pets: "FurLumpz".

They are billed as "the perfect pet", and I suppose they are. For a lot of people. Cute (indescribably so), fuzzy, non-shedding, can be induced to hibernate if you need to leave them home while you go away for 6 months or more, clean (they excrete hard, odorless pellets), easily fed, long-lived, and healthy.

Just about everyone I know either has one now, or is thinking about getting one soon. I have to admit I'm still a sucker for the defective natural critters that evolution designed so well (even if that "design" doesn't mesh quite as well with living with a human).

But, FurLumpz aren't the only genetically-engineered animal (or plant, or combination of both, or of neither) out there. There are some "unextincted" creatures around for those who like that sort of thing. There are some things that have been created for the individual that doesn't like cute and cuddly, but toothy and hideous. Some people prefer to work with the microscopic world and have made bacteria that do some amazing and beautiful things. Or some odd things. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all.

Just about any hacker can put together a genetic manipulation lab these days. That may not be "safe", but it is freedom. There have been some unfortunate incidents. However, if you create something that causes harm to any individual or their property, you WILL be held fully liable. There is nothing to shield you from accountability. There are always ways to figure out just where a creature originates and who is responsible in case of a problem when there is an incentive to find out. This accountability has kept tragedies to a bare minimum.

So far, the benefits have vastly outweighed the drawbacks. And not just for pet lovers. There have been incredible breakthroughs in medicine that would have never been discovered had the doors of innovation not been ripped from their hinges. There have been new art forms created (beyond looking at life as a medium for art). There have been new energy sources discovered and new materials perfected. All because of (mostly) "kids" tinkering in their bedrooms and garages.

I love it, and could tell you so much more, but it's time to feed my archaeopteryx.

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Libertopia- Museums galore!

Over the weekend I visited a nice little natural history museum. Museums in Libertopia? Of course!

Obviously they are all privately funded. Some are profit motivated while others are supported by a charitable group. Both kinds can be very educational and fun!

Everyone is a lot richer now since there is no "taxation" at any step of the production, and therefore the things you need and want cost a lot less. Plus, you get to keep all the money you earn to spend as you wish. You don't have to pay for "services" you don't want. (Estimates are that everyone is about 8 times more wealthy than they would have been during the era of The State.) That means there is lots of money to spend on things such as museums.

Here in the free society, museums compete to attract the best scientists and researchers. This means those who pay well, or provide the best opportunity for the scientist's particular interests, can get the scientists they wish to have on staff. They also compete to attract paying visitors with engaging displays and innovative design.

Objects of interest are not likely to languish in the "collections" in the basement since someone spent money to obtain the item and they have a financial interest in getting it understood and described and displayed, rather than letting it gather dust and be forgotten. They also usually have an interest in getting the information right rather than in being sensational, since word gets out otherwise. But, that isn't always the case.

Some goofy museums exist, such as "Creationism museums", but few people take them seriously and see them more as a sideshow displaying freaks of sloppy thinking. Sure, they still make money but you don't support them unless you want to, just as you don't support a scholarly museum unless you want to.

It's similar to the way libraries operate here in Libertopia.

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