A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears)

by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

“Government isn’t ruining capitalism. Capitalism is ruining government. I think that’s kind of obvious,” he says. “If you take capitalism out of government you get simple public representation. If you take government out of capitalism, you get slavery.”

“Libertarians have a lower degree of the broad social connection that typifies liberals as well as a lower degree of the tight social connections that typify conservatives,” wrote the authors, speculating that natural loners might be attracted to a political ideology that celebrates freedom.

In 2009, when Alaskan authorities fined a man named Charlie Vandergaw $20,000 for illegally feeding game,

white pieces of paper that represent green pieces of paper that used to represent yellow metal but now represent only a collective delusion of value.

all mammalian brains, including the ones nestled inside human skulls, use dopamine to control what social scientists call “motivational salience.” It’s the all-important cognitive process that motivates us to move toward desirable and pleasurable outcomes, like hugs and cheesecake, and to move away from dangers, like gunfire and Reddit forums.

most of our decisions are driven by culture, chemical processes within the brain, bacteria in the gut, and, not least, parasites.

If there is a silver lining to suffering trauma, it is the opportunity to learn about one’s self, to trail mental fingers over a previously unrecognized core of inner strength.