October 17, 2013

Why is Government a Monopoly?

Can more competition help government services improve?

We’ve entrusted about half of our money to an institution that is not good at managing money – the government. From this observation, Tim Draper, Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurveston, crafts an argument that more competition can help government services improve.

Draper delivered these remarks in a talk entitled “How Can We Fix Our Monopoly Governments” at The Nantucket Project, a festival of ideas on Nantucket, MA.

Watch the video here.

Starts With A Bang

The unsurprising non-detection of intelligent aliens

Life arose on Earth very early on. After a few billion years, here we are: intelligent and technologically advanced. Where's everyone else?

A person in a dark robe wielding a glowing red lightsaber on a desert dune under a night sky with a large crescent moon and a visible planet.

High Culture

Does science fiction shape the future?

Six visionary science fiction authors on the social impact of their work.

A human brain preserved in a clear glass container filled with a yellowish preserving fluid, set against a bright, light green background.

13.8

The key problem with the “brain in a vat” thought experiment

Even with the best technology imaginable, you'd probably never be able to exist as a consciously aware brain in a vat.

A dramatic solar eclipse with a radiant ring of fire visible around the moon, set against a backdrop of clouds and a sunburst.

13.8

A cosmic coincidence: What eclipses tell us about Earth

Total eclipses are a product of a strange and almost eerie cosmic coincidence — one that makes Earth an even rarer world in the galaxy and, by proxy, in the Universe.

Starts With A Bang

If photons have mass, could they explain dark matter?

Our Universe requires dark matter in order to make sense of things, astrophysically. Could massive photons do the trick?

Up Next

At This Tokyo Restaurant, Only One Staff Person Is Visible

The restaurant combines food delivery via conveyor belts with tablets containing menu options. The staff person is there merely to collect customers' payments, which are automatically tallied when empty plates are sent down a chute.