Dear freedom-friends,
In this episode of The Covered Call, we sat down with Stephan Kinsella — a patent attorney turned libertarian legal theorist whose work challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions of modern society: that ideas can be owned, and that the state is the natural guardian of order.
Stephan is best known for his book Against Intellectual Property, but this conversation goes much deeper than IP law. We explore first principles: property, aggression, freedom, and the role - or non-role - of the state itself.
Some of the questions we wrestle with in this episode:
Is the state, by its very nature, an institution built on aggression?
Why do property rights depend on scarcity — and why do ideas break that logic?
Does intellectual property promote innovation, or quietly suffocate it?
Can cooperation and empathy replace coercion as the foundation of social order?
What happens to liberty as technology pushes us toward a post-scarcity world?
Stephan argues that real freedom doesn’t come from better rulers or smarter laws, but from respecting individual rights and voluntary cooperation — even when that conclusion feels uncomfortable or radical.
As always, this isn’t about agreement. It’s about clarity.
About tracing ideas to their logical end.
And about asking what kind of systems actually allow human flourishing.
If this conversation challenges you, sit with it.
If it resonates, share it with someone who enjoys questioning first principles.
Thank you, as always, for being part of our journey toward freedom.
Warm regards,
Lovis & Jason
The Covered Call
