For those readers who may be interested, I will be giving two talks this Saturday at the Students for Liberty International Conference. I. “Democracy and Political Ignorance: What the Voters Don’t Know and Why it Hurts Them” – 2:15-3:15 PM II. “Harry Potter and the Rings of Power: Liberty in Fantasy and Science Fiction” – […]
Archive | Science Fiction/Fantasy
Why Alien Invasions of Earth Fail
The Cracked.com website has an entertaining article on why alien invasions of Earth portrayed in Hollywood movies virtually always fail. It lists six typical alien invader “blind spots”: Hollywood has fed us a steady stream of alien-invasion movies since the 1950s…. [T]his is a good time to ask ourselves why exactly the alien invasions we […]
Nichelle Nichols and MLK
Of the various radio and TV and internet items today related to MLK that I heard, the one that caught my attention most was an interview with Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura on Star Trek. I heard it on NPR, but here is a transcript from the Wall Street Journal Speakeasy blog. It sounds like […]
New York Times Article on Law and the Multiverse
The New York Times recently published an article on the Law and the Multiverse blog, which focuses on legal issues raised by superheroes and supervillains. The article includes some commentary by yours truly. In conjunction with my analysis of the law of Dungeons and Dragons (see here and here), constitutional federalism in Star Trek and […]
The Law of Dungeons and Dragons
Earlier this year, I wrote about a Seventh Circuit decision that denied inmates the right to play Dungeons and Dragons. In addition to being regulated by the law of the state, D&D also has an elaborate legal system of its own. For some thirty years, Dragon magazine ran a “Sage Advice” column where readers could […]
Superman May be an Agent of the State Too
Senior Conspirator Eugene Volokh recently linked to a Law and the Multiverse post suggesting that Batman may be a state actor under current law. Back in 2006, I summarized a lot of evidence suggesting that Superman is a government agent as well. If so, the use of his x-ray vision and other powers to gather […]
Vulcans and Video Games at the Supreme Court
Josh Blackman has posted some fascinating excerpts from the oral argument in Schwarzenegger v. EMA, the violent video games case. I’ll leave the analytical heavy lifting to our resident free speech experts, such as Eugene. My own view (uncharacteristically in line with conventional wisdom) is that the state government should lose this case and probably […]
Vampire Slayers and the Law
Co-blogger Eugene Volokh recently referenced some criminal laws relating to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In this 2007 post, I considered the implications of the show for property rights and “quick take” condemnations. Unlike Eugene, I managed to incorporate Faith into my legal analysis as well. As I pointed out, eminent domain abuse is an excellent […]
A Film Version of the The Silmarillion?
Various commenters on my recent post about Peter Jackson’s upcoming movie version of The Hobbit lament the fact that it is impossible to make a movie based Tolkien’s Silmarillion, the book that describes the history leading up to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The idea that the Silmarillion is impossible to film […]
A Light Springs from the Shadows
There is plenty of bad news in the world today. But one recent piece of really great news is that Peter Jackson’s film version of The Hobbit, has finally been greenlighted and is scheduled to begin filming in February 2011 [HT: fellow legal academic Tolkien fan Steve Bainbridge]. Apparently, Jackson has managed to settle the […]
Hobbit Movie May be Delayed by Union Pressure
I have previously noted Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson’s plans to produce a movie based on The Hobbit. Sadly, the production of the film has been delayed by various factors. The latest obstacle is labor union opposition [HT: Danny Sokol]: You can be forgiven for being skeptical that “The Hobbit” will ever be […]
Property Rights in Rings of Power
Co-blogger Ken Anderson asks my opinion on property rights in Rings of Power. I refer Ken and other interested readers to my thorough May 2008 post on this subject, which includes links to some of the other commentary on this important issue. Nasty Hobbitses have no property rightses in our Preciouss!
Robots and Cyberattacks, Both! Surrogates, the Movie
As many of our readers know, I have long been fascinated by robotics, and have a particular interest in battlefield robotics and related questions of law. I felt I was late to the cyberwarfare field – and don’t know enough about it – and so have left it for others. But robotics … well! Robotics […]
Prehistoric Hobbits Were a Distinct Species – More Scientific Evidence Supporting The Lord of The Rings
The New Scientist cites proof that the prehistoric “hobbits” whose fossils were recently discovered by scientists in Indonesia were actually a distinct species, and not human [HT: Instapundit]: Case closed – the “hobbits” that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores only 13,000 years ago were a unique species of hominid. This was the first […]
The Politics of Zombies
By Ilya Somin on June 22, 2010 8:56 pm in International Law, Libertarianism, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Political scientist Dan Drezner has an interesting essay in Foreign Policy magazine that explores how different international relations theories would cope with an invasion of zombies. It’s based on his forthcoming book Theories of International Politics and Zombies, scheduled to be published by the Princeton University Press. Drezner analyzes the possible responses to a zombie […]