The Voluntary Life

Episode

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  The First Extreme Saver 19.07.2026 4mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'The First Extreme Saver' by Jake Desyllas. Extreme saving — putting away fifty percent or more of your income to reach financial independence within a decade — feels like a recent invention, the work of FIRE bloggers and Joe Dominguez's *Your Money Or Your Life*. It isn't. In this episode Jake traces the idea back to the Victorian bestseller Samuel Smiles, whose 1875 book *Thrift* made the case to ordinary working people that saving was both a personal virtue and a social good, and casually recommended savings rates that today's audiences would find startling. The piece is a short reminder that frugality and long-horizon thinking used to be mainstream advice, not a fringe lifestyle — and an invitation to ask why that shifted. First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2016/11/4/the-first-extreme-saver on 14 November 2016.
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  A Critique of Roderick Long's Theory Of Parental Obligations 12.07.2026 13mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'A Critique of Roderick Long's Theory Of Parental Obligations' by Jake Desyllas. Roderick Long sets out a clear version of the causal-peril principle: if your voluntary actions place another person in danger, you acquire an enforceable obligation to get them out of peril. But when Long applies this principle to parenthood, his arguments are inconsistent. Fathers, on Long's account, are bound by their causal actions. Mothers escape causal responsibility entirely, acquiring obligations only by the choice not to abort. This episode walks through the contradictions: the gender double standard Long openly acknowledges and refuses to resolve, the strange "reversal of responsibility" that treats unborn children as agents using their mothers' bodies, the matriarchal property-right framing in which fathers are obligated only if mothers permit it, and his ad-hominem dismissal of the causal obligations argument. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 3:33 Men Have Responsibility For Their Actions, But Women Don't 5:04 Pregnancy Creates Special Exemptions For Women Being Responsible For Their Actions 7:38 Reversal of Responsibility 8:57 A Matriarchal Theory Of Parental Ownership 10:19 Dismissing Parental Obligations As Mere Sexism 11:34 Conclusion First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2025/9/23/a-critique-of-roderick-longs-theory-of-parental-obligations on 23 September 2025.
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  What The Declaration of Independence Should Have Said 04.07.2026 2mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'What The Declaration of Independence Should Have Said' by Jake Desyllas. The preamble of the US Declaration of Independence is among the most influential passages in the history of libertarian thought — but does it actually hold up to the way libertarians now think about rights? In this short piece, Jake Desyllas proposes a rewrite. He argues that "all men are created equal" claims more than is self-evident, that "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" obscures the underlying property-rights framework, and that the preamble's commitment to self-evident truths is better grounded in claims that cannot be denied without contradiction. The result is a tighter, more rigorous foundation for rights: self ownership, homesteading, and voluntary agreement, with universal law applying equally to all. First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2024/11/28/what-the-declaration-of-independence-should-have-said on 28 November 2024.
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  Children Do Not Have Obligations to Their Parents 28.06.2026 5mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'Children Do Not Have Obligations to Their Parents' by Jake Desyllas. In a libertarian legal order, parents owe positive obligations to their children — to feed, shelter, and protect them — because the parents' own actions brought the child into existence. But does the relationship run the other way? Do grown children owe their parents care in old age? In this short piece Jake argues no: legitimate positive obligations arise only from one's own actions, and a child has not acted to create the relationship he is born into. He examines Andrew J. Peach's case for "unchosen" filial obligations and finds it unjustified, then turns to a different question — whether young children have a moral, though unenforceable, duty to obey their parents in cases where paternal protection is warranted. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:34 The Peach Counter-argument 4:16 Children's Obligations During Childhood First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2025/5/22/children-do-not-have-obligations-to-their-parents on 22 May 2025.
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  The Theory Of Acquired Rights Violates Hoppe's Specificity Principle 21.06.2026 9mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'The Theory Of Acquired Rights Violates Hoppe's Specificity Principle' by Jake Desyllas. Do we have rights because of what we are, or because of some capacity we later acquire? Libertarians are split, and the stakes run straight through the hardest questions about children, abortion, and self-ownership. This episode tests the two rival theories against one of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's meta-ethical principles: that every property right must be specific about who holds it and when. Drawing on admissions from Tibor Machan, Judith Jarvis Thomson, and Stephan Kinsella, it argues that the theory of acquired rights cannot say when a child becomes a self-owner, and so fails the test on its own terms. The theory of inherent rights, which locates the start of rights at conception, does not. A short, sharp piece on a meta-ethical principle with large consequences. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:25 The theory of acquired rights is not specific about when a child becomes a self owner 7:29 The Theory of Inherent Rights Conforms To The Specificity Principle First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2025/1/21/the-theory-of-acquired-rights-violates-hoppes-specificity-principle on 21 January 2025.
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  Three Questions Philosophers Do Not Want To Answer About Parenting 14.06.2026 6mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'Three Questions Philosophers Do Not Want To Answer About Parenting' by Jake Desyllas. Why are books on the ethics of parenting so consistently dull? In this episode, Jake Desyllas argues that the blandness is no accident — it is the product of strategic omission. Philosophers of the family routinely skirt around questioning the practices that most urgently deserve scrutiny: corporal punishment, circumcision, and abortion. These are widely accepted parental practices that are also ethically indefensible, and they constitute acts of aggression by parents that violate the rights of their children. Drawing on Patrick Lenta, Walter Block and Patrick Testa, and Brad Stetson, Jake explains how this silence functions as conformity to intellectual taboo — and why refusing to address such questions is an abdication of the basic responsibility of a philosopher. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:35 Corporal Punishment 3:38 Circumcision 4:24 Abortion 6:06 Recent Practices to Add to the List First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2025/2/5/three-questions-philosophers-do-not-want-to-answer-about-parenting on 5 February 2025.
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  The Cost of Bad Street Design 10.06.2026 28mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'The Cost of Bad Street Design' by Jake Desyllas. In this article, Jake Desyllas examines the hidden costs of a design ideology that came to dominate twentieth-century traffic planning: the idea that pedestrians and vehicles must be physically segregated, with streets re-engineered as conduits for through traffic. Drawing on his work in a pedestrian movement consultancy, he traces the lineage from Herbert Alker Tripp's 1940s advocacy of "fencing off the perils" through the influential 1963 Buchanan report, and shows how the resulting guard-rails, underpasses and signalised crossings produce the opposite of what they promise. The casualties are not only the obvious ones — dislocated communities, dying high streets, declining walking, rising obesity — but the loss of streets themselves as places where everyday life happens. An invitation to question whether the segregated, single-use street is really the only way. Chapters: 0:00 Title 0:05 Introduction 3:03 The consequences of bad street design 4:31 Planning for traffic 8:29 Reshaping our cities 12:44 Dangerous streets 17:16 The death of walking 22:04 Alternative solutions 25:11 Conclusion First published in 2006 by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
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  A Critique of Nozick's Comments on Parental Obligations and Children's Rights 07.06.2026 13mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'A Critique of Nozick's Comments on Parental Obligations and Children's Rights' by Jake Desyllas. Robert Nozick's commentary on Locke's theory of homesteading contains two genuinely sharp insights into the problem of children's rights: that Locke's God-as-creator argument conceded the principle that children are ownable rather than refuting it, and that Locke's same move undermined any causal grounding for parental responsibility. Yet having identified the problem so clearly, Nozick refused to do the work of solving it — leaving the homework for someone else and, in later writing, drifting into shallow speculations about children as extensions of their parents. This essay walks through Nozick's insights, his refusal to put forward his own theory, and what his stance reveals about a philosopher who preferred clever exploration to firm conclusions. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 3:36 Nozick's First Insight: Locke Conceded That Children Are Ownable 4:36 Nozick's Second Insight: Locke Denied Causal Parental Responsibility 5:56 What Did Nozick Argue About Parental Obligations? 7:13 What Did Nozick Argue About Children's Rights? 10:19 Maybe Nozick Just Didn't Care First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2025/2/26/a-critique-of-nozicks-comments-on-parental-obligations-and-childrens-rights on 26 February 2025.
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  What Is The Libertarian Theory of Parental Obligations? JLS Article 03.06.2026 43mnt

  Article only version An AI narration of the article 'What Is The Libertarian Theory of Parental Obligations?' by Jake Desyllas. This article examines four competing philosophical theories of the parental role within a libertarian framework: parental ownership, parenting as charity, parenting as voluntary social contract, and causal parental responsibility. It critically analyzes each theory, evaluating its logical implications—particularly concerning the legitimacy of enforceable parental obligations—and its compatibility with libertarian principles. The article argues that the first three theories are unsound and incompatible with libertarianism. In contrast, it defends the theory of causal parental responsibility as the only sound framework consistent with libertarian philosophy, grounding enforceable parental obligations in the creation of peril. This analysis seeks to resolve long-standing debates and establish a coherent libertarian theory of parental obligation. Chapters: 0:00 Abstract 1:00 Introduction 3:06 The Theory of Parental Ownership 7:29 The Theory of Parenting as Charity 17:33 The Theory of Parenting as Voluntary Social Contract 24:19 The Theory of Causal Parental Responsibility 36:30 Parental Obligations in Contemporary Libertarian Thought 41:06 Conclusion First published at https://jls.mises.org/article/141458-what-is-the-libertarian-theory-of-parental-obligations on 1 July 2025.
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  You Cannot Give Up Parental Obligations 31.05.2026 13mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'You Cannot Give Up Parental Obligations' by Jake Desyllas. Parental obligations exist because creating a child places that child in a state of peril, and the parents are the ones causally responsible for that peril. From this foundation, Jake draws an unsettling conclusion: those obligations cannot be legitimately given up. Through carefully constructed thought experiments — a bonfire that endangers a neighbour's house, a swimmer pushed into a lake — he shows that delegating the task to someone else does not erase the original obligation. The argument cuts across unintended parenthood, adoption, and gamete donation, with implications many will find uncomfortable. If parents cannot legitimately absolve themselves of their obligations, what does that mean for the practices and institutions we have built around the idea that they can? Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 3:33 Unintended Parenthood 5:45 Parents Who Give Up Their Child For Adoption 10:04 Gamete Donors/Sellers 11:47 Conclusion First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2024/10/8/you-cannot-give-up-parental-obligations on 8 October 2024.
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  A Critique of Rothbard's Theory Of Parental Ownership 24.05.2026 16mnt

  An AI narration of the article 'A Critique of Rothbard's Theory Of Parental Ownership' by Jake Desyllas. Self-ownership is a foundational principle of libertarian philosophy — but does it extend to children? Murray Rothbard rejected outright ownership of children, yet defended a "limited" parental ownership on homesteading grounds. This essay traces the contradiction in Rothbard's position and argues the correct framing: parents hold obligations to their children, not ownership rights, and children are self-owners from the moment they are created. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:35 Rothbard's Conflicting Arguments on Parental Ownership 4:47 Individuals Cannot Be Homesteaded 7:33 Rothbard's Two Models Of Limited Parental Ownership 9:57 What Was Rothbard Trying To Achieve? 13:30 Parental Ownership Rights Are Merely Asserted 14:45 The Core Premise At Fault 15:34 The Correct Formulation Of The Parental Role First published at https://www.jakedesyllas.com/blog/2024/12/29/a-critique-of-rothbards-theory-of-parental-ownership on 29 December 2024.
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  The State's Drive to Destroy the Family 17.05.2026 18mnt

  The State's Drive to Destroy the Family: Institutional Logic and Time Preference A presentation by Jake Desyllas at the 2026 Austrian Economics Research Conference held at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
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  Justifying Parental Authority Without Ownership 10.05.2026 13mnt

  A presentation by Jake Desyllas at the 2026 Libertarian Scholars Conference held at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
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  Interview: A Libertarian Theory of Parental Obligations 03.05.2026 47mnt
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  What Is the Libertarian Theory of Parental Obligations? 26.04.2026 18mnt

  A presentation by Jake Desyllas at the 2025 Libertarian Scholars Conference held at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. The article of this talk is at https://jls.mises.org/article/141458-what-is-the-libertarian-theory-of-parental-obligations
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  Financial Independence: The Most Important Kind Of Freedom (And How To Achieve It) 22.04.2026 29mnt

  Presentation at Freedom Fest 2023 in Memphis by Jake Desyllas.
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  Job Free by Jake Desyllas (Full Audiobook Unabridged) 17.12.2024 3j 2mnt

  Job Free: Four Ways to Quit the Rat Race and Achieve Financial Freedom on Your Terms Full Audiobook (Unabbridged) by Jake Desyllas Forget searching for the right job—start building a life in which you don't need a job. A job-free life is possible, and you have options about how to achieve it. This book provides real-world examples of people who have successfully quit the rat race using four different strategies: extreme saving, unjobbing, lifestyle businesses, and startups. Whether you want to achieve financial independence and retire early, or simply never work for anyone else again, this book provides an essential guide to the different lifestyle-design strategies open to you. An inspiring and concise introduction to job freedom and financial independence, by someone who has achieved both.
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  Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas (Full Audiobook Unabridged) 11.10.2024 2j 59mnt

  Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner  Full Audiobook (Unabridged) by Jake Desyllas Successful entrepreneur Jake Desyllas demystifies entrepreneurship, providing a cheerful and inspiring call to action for those who yearn to break free. Becoming an Entrepreneur is unique in its focus on the psychological dimensions of starting a business. Using personal examples, Desyllas approaches this topic with insight and sensitivity, showing you how to overcome the mindset of "employee conditioning" and find fulfillment by creating an enterprise in line with your values. Readers will learn how to reach profitability, remove themselves from the daily grind, and achieve personal and professional freedom as a business owner. Becoming an Entrepreneur is a short, jargon-free guide, packed with solid advice that you can start using today to build and manage your own business. By the time you've finished reading this book, you'll understand the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and have a set of timeless principles that can you use in any business situation. If you're ready to jailbreak your career and lifestyle, Becoming an Entrepreneur will set you on the right path.
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  Bonus Episode 17: Communication And Mindfulness 30.03.2020 23mnt

  A listener conversation about communication and mindfulness. Originally released in 2018 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.
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  Bonus Episode 16: Tax Strategies And My Experience As An Entrepreneur 23.03.2020 17mnt

  A discussion with a listener about tax strategies and financial freedom. The previous episodes of TVL referenced are episodes 209 and 210 with Joshua Sheats from the Radical Personal Finance Podcast. Originally released in 2017 as a bonus episode for supporting listeners.