Science & Technology

Today fossil fuels—the lifeblood of modern industrial civilization—are under constant attack by environmentalists, including certain journalists, pundits, politicians, and activists. But, as Alex Epstein argues, the war on fossil fuels is impractical and immoral. He makes this case in his pathbreaking new book, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.

With the mid-term elections upon us, President Obama and other Democrats are trying to take credit for lower gasoline prices and other economic benefits flowing from the record volumes of oil being produced by U.S. oil companies. But Obama and his Democrat cohorts don’t produce oil; they throttle those who produce oil.

Petroleum is a fundamental fuel of our industrial economy. Gasoline prices are falling largely because many good people and businesses in the oil industry are and have for decades been developing technologies that increase production and decrease costs, which, in turn, render lower prices at the pump and elsewhere.

Although it is true that a person may reach a point when, given the diminished quality of his life, he no longer deems it worth living, the proper principle guiding such decisions—a principle Ezekiel Emanuel never states—is that the only person properly in a position to decide whether his life is worth living is the individual himself.

We typically go through our days without devoting a thought to this this magnificent material, concrete, that helps make modern life possible. The next time you enjoy a modern building, drive down a street, or so much as stroll down a sidewalk, you might think for a moment of the modern producers of concrete. Their thought and work literally support your life.

The Endangered Species Act empowers the federal government to effectively nationalize private property without even compensating the owners of the property. It should be unnecessary in civilized society to point out that frogs do not have rights. They don’t. People do. And government’s sole proper function is to protect people’s rights.

A recent YouTube video, “Kids React to Old Computers,” is a fun and profound way to mark the rapid advance of computer technology. Children interviewed for the video have a variety of reactions to the Apple II, an innovative machine in its day—it was introduced in 1977—but now useful mainly as a museum piece.

Under the control of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex)—Mexico’s State Run Oil Monopoly—oil production has declined to levels not seen since 1995. Fortunately for the people of Mexico, producers in the United States, operating in relative freedom, have, during that same time, massively increased their production of crude. Mexico may soon begin importing crude from the United States.

If scientists rationally judge that they can make headway against ALS and other devastating diseases by engaging in embryonic stem cell research, that is what they should do—and those who voluntarily (and non-sacrificially) fund such research are morally virtuous in doing so.

Individuals’ lives and bodies belong to them, not to the government. Individuals have a moral right to seek out and use the drugs of their choice for pain management (and for any other purpose), and politicians and bureaucrats are morally wrong—indeed, they are detestable—when they violate those rights.