Michael Matulef

Markets Transform Conflict into Cooperation

Defending markets is not about defending greed or selfishness. It is about defending the greatest engine of peaceful cooperation humanity has ever known.

We cooperate because we are different, not despite our differences.

In a market economy, one accumulates wealth by enriching others through the exchange of goods and services, otherwise known as trade. As long as this act is voluntary, it is driven by self-interest...all trade is mutually beneficial.

The more a man indulges in the propensity to blame others or circumstances for his failures, the more disgruntled and ineffective he tends to become. — Friedrich Hayek

Sound money is the precondition for a free and civilized society, and its absence is the precondition for barbarism.

Inflation de-civilizes by teaching people to live for the present.

What is your unit of measurement?

“When economic power is centralized as an instrument of political power it creates a degree of dependence scarcely distinguishable from slavery.” — Friedrich Hayek

✌️

Turn to the light and grow tall, yet bend when the rain falls.

Beyond economic disruption, the real concern with AI lies in privacy and data control. Most AI models capture and store everything users share, often making that data accessible to governments upon request. What individuals disclose to AI systems is thus rarely private. While privacy-focused encrypted models like nostr:nprofile1qqs8msutuusu385l6wpdzf2473d2zlh750yfayfseqwryr6mfazqvmgpy4mhxue69uhkvet9v3ejumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtm0d4hxjh6lwejkuar4wfjhxqfswaehxw309a5hgcmg0ykkwmmvv3jkuun0vskkvatjvdhkuargdacxsct8w4ejuumrv9exzc3wd9kj7qfpwaehxw309ahx7um5wgkhyetvv9ujuar90pshx6r9v3nk2tnc09az7em0qzz seek to protect user data, it remains uncertain whether they can compete with larger, closed-source models backed by powerful corporations. This uncertainty reflects a deeper market reality that Austrian economists would recognize: revealed preferences often contradict stated preferences. Despite widespread expressions of concern about privacy and surveillance, the market consistently rewards the most convenient and capable AI systems regardless of their data practices. Users continue flocking to platforms that offer superior functionality while harvesting extensive personal information, suggesting that most consumers value performance and convenience over data protection. At that point, the concern is government opportunism. Whether entrepreneurial innovation will eventually satisfy latent demand for privacy-first alternatives, or whether the market will continue prioritizing capability over confidentiality, remains an open question that only time and consumer choice can resolve. nostr:nevent1qqs8td6lgadlxhg3vl7xztz073hv3lpcujn93nur3jglpcp0ne6xxtcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsygza2jzvsjt84tpesmx4z2hcmnw4yseapyq6mwa4jgmqzxyy9qa2rcpsgqqqqqqsrt3f2t

Artificial intelligence will disrupt industries and displace workers, but it cannot abolish the fundamental economic realities: human action, scarcity, subjective value, and entrepreneurial calculation. Rather than fearing AI as an economic destroyer, we should recognize it as another tool that entrepreneurs will employ to serve consumer wants more effectively. The proper response is not government management but institutional humility—maintaining the legal framework for voluntary exchange while allowing market forces to discover AI’s highest-valued applications. Economic laws operate regardless of technological circumstances. AI may change the specific forms that scarcity, value, and entrepreneurship take, but it cannot eliminate these fundamental aspects of human action. nostr:nevent1qqs8td6lgadlxhg3vl7xztz073hv3lpcujn93nur3jglpcp0ne6xxtcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsygza2jzvsjt84tpesmx4z2hcmnw4yseapyq6mwa4jgmqzxyy9qa2rcpsgqqqqqqsrt3f2t

The Economics of AI: Dispelling Fears and Embracing Entrepreneurship My latest piece with Mises https://mises.org/mises-wire/economics-ai-dispelling-fears-and-embracing-entrepreneurship