Lou Perez: Comedy, Censorship, and Human Nature | Free State Unplugged
Lou Perez joins Jeremy Kauffman for a conversation about comedy, censorship, and changing your mind. They discuss political labels, audience capture, libertarianism, and what people reveal through the jokes they laugh at.
Correction from Lou: The Charlie Hebdo attack was on January 7, 2015, not 2007.
Recorded October 17, 2026.
Learn more about Lou Perez and follow him here: https://www.thelouperez.com
Learn more about Jeremy Kauffman and follow him here: https://x.com/jeremykauffman
Recorded and produced by the Free State Party, a private club in New Hampshire.
Join us: https://freestate.party
Support the Party: https://freestate.party/patron
25 Sept 2026
AI & Optimism
If AI can do your job, what’s left for you?
A lot, hopefully. Work isn’t the whole point of being alive.
Brian Chau joins Jeremy Kauffman to talk about what AI is already useful for, what we should teach our kids, and whether we have good reasons to be optimistic.
AI & Optimism · Free State Unplugged
00:00 Brian Chau on Finding Stories With AI
01:20 Investigating Health Equity Incentives
02:51 From Auditing Tools to Investigative Reporting
05:22 What Can One Person Do With AI?
07:54 Jobs, Progress, and the AI Doom Argument
15:25 Status, Mathematics, and Leaving Academia
21:21 What Becomes More Valuable With AI?
25:01 What Should Children Learn Now?
30:43 If AI Does the Jobs, What Remains?
35:25 Life Beyond Work
37:03 Why Does Technology Inspire Pessimism?
45:13 Where Does Optimism Come From?
49:29 Christianity, Belief, and Meaning
53:11 Fertility, Entertainment, and TikTok
55:51 Finding Brian—and a New Hampshire Favorite
Recorded September 21, 2026. Free State Unplugged.
Recorded and produced by the Free State Party, a private club in New Hampshire.
Join us: https://freestate.party
Support the Party: https://freestate.party/patron
22 Sept 2026
An Examination of Resistance
Ammon Bundy joins the Free State Party's Bill Barger to discuss resistance. What makes resistance possible? Can people defend their liberty by standing together, or does resistance leave them facing the government alone? What should those who value liberty do when they believe the government has overstepped?
What they discussed:
00:00 Introduction
00:40 Why Fight for Liberty?
03:13 Were the Bundys Already Distrustful of Government?
04:47 Did Community Make Bunkerville Possible?
12:48 After Bunkerville: What Does Offense Look Like?
17:56 Has the Spirit of Resistance Faded in America?
19:42 If Voting and the Courts Fail, Where Do We Go?
23:41 Is Taxation Theft, and Should We Shoot the IRS?
26:27 How Do You Spot a Fed?
29:09 How Do You Negotiate With Feds?
31:41 Is Freedom Limited to Small Enclaves?
35:55 Can Resistance Become a Movement?
43:39 Community, Shared Values, and Immigration
50:40 Ammon's Namesake and His Faith
53:20 Audience Questions
53:47 Where Is the Line in an Armed Standoff?
56:56 Everyday Carry
57:59 The Personal Cost—and Would He Do It Again?
1:04:47 Closing
Recorded September 19, 2026, in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Recorded and produced by the Free State Party, a private club in New Hampshire.
Join us: https://freestate.party
Support the Party: https://freestate.party/patron
17 Aug 2026
An Examination of Genetics with Razib Khan
Razib Khan and Jeremy Kauffman examine genetics, heritability, group differences, education, embryo selection, and artificial intelligence.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome
01:06 Are Pit Bulls Aggressive Because of Their Home Life?
03:19 Do People Differ Like Dog Breeds?
13:53 How Should Education Consider Hereditarianism?
29:03 How Substantial Are Group Differences?
30:50 Individuals and Group Judgments
34:38 Can We Trust an Indian?
39:13 Regression to the Mean in Groups
43:23 Genetic Testing for Embryos
49:02 Artificial Intelligence and Genetics
52:32 Razib's Book
56:23 Audience Questions
13 Jul 2026
A Deliberation on Liberalism
Auron MacIntyre and Jeremy Kauffman discuss liberalism, the neutral state, natural rights, speech, democracy, religion, war, and the durability of liberty.
Chapters
00:00 What Is Liberalism?
03:13 The Myth of the Neutral State
10:10 Why Liberty Eventually Collapses
16:31 Natural Rights: Real or Fiction?
23:55 Has the Constitution Failed?
31:19 Should We Protect Dangerous Speech?
37:37 Would a King Be Better Than Democracy?
43:18 When Freedom Produces Bad Outcomes
49:54 Can Liberty Survive Without Christianity?
56:54 Why Liberalism May Lead to Endless War
29 Jun 2026
A Deliberation on Localism
Joe Norman and Travis Corcoran discuss localism, self-sufficiency, supply chains, local rules, property, obligation, national defense, and liberty.
Chapters
00:00 What Is Localism?
08:23 Is Localism the Goal, or Just a Tool?
16:43 Did Capitalist Supply Chains Make Life Fragile?
21:20 Is Self-Sufficiency a Fantasy in the Modern World?
27:03 Is the Global Division of Labor Worth the Dependency?
35:00 Can a Town Vote to Ban a Data Center?
41:53 Can a Town Ban Anything, as Long as You Can Leave?
54:19 Do You Owe Your Town Things You Never Agreed To?
59:37 Can a Man Do Whatever He Wants on His Own Land?
1:07:13 Can a Localist Nation Defend Itself?
1:12:37 What Is Freedom? What Is Liberty?
27 May 2026
An Examination of Iteration
Kevin Dolan and Dennis Pratt examine iteration: building institutions that last, hierarchy, power, demographics, civic nationalism, family formation, and the Free State Project.
Chapters
00:00 What Is Iteration?
03:08 What Does Exit Group Do?
06:40 Why Iteration Beats Replication
08:18 Can Ideas Outlive Founders?
10:03 What Makes Institutions Last?
14:35 What Should Power Build?
21:10 Should the Free State Project Exercise Power?
24:17 Family, Patronage, and Patriotism
25:12 Demographic Decline
27:53 The Looting Phase
38:12 Is Civic Nationalism Totalitarian?
42:47 Pro-Family Systems for New Hampshire
47:05 Bring the Wives
47:35 Audience Questions
18 May 2026
An Examination of Cultural Drift
Robin Hanson and Travis Corcoran examine cultural drift: how cultures change, whether cultural leaders are wise, how communities preserve norms, and what exit costs mean for liberty and markets.
Chapters
00:00 Robin Hanson and Cultural Drift
01:24 What Is Cultural Drift?
10:26 Are Modern Cultures Becoming Maladaptive?
13:15 Could Cultural Leaders Be Wrong?
16:11 Loyalty, Voice, and Exit
19:32 Must Surviving Cultures Restrict Freedom?
23:29 Can the Amish Serve as Cultural Lifeboats?
28:00 Can Culture Be Designed to Drift More Slowly?
41:26 Does Capitalism Favor Liberty?
46:55 Audience Questions
2 May 2026
A Deliberation on Nationalism
Austin Petersen and Jeremy Kauffman discuss nationalism, individual liberty, shared culture, national defense, civic service, trade, secession, and exit.
Chapters
00:00 How the Deliberation Works
01:01 Is Nationalism Compatible With Individual Liberty?
09:27 Is National Defense a Public Good?
16:57 Does a Nation Need a Shared Culture?
21:30 Does a Nation Have a Right to Exclude?
28:02 Can Multi-Ethnic Civic Nationalism Last?
37:51 Does a Free Society Need Cultural Homogeneity?
42:03 May a Nation Enforce a Monoculture?
47:14 May Government Compel Civic or Military Service?
53:59 National Defense or Free Trade?
59:33 Can the Non-Aggression Principle Defend a Nation?
1:05:35 Should America Expand Its Territory?
1:11:00 Reform, Secession, or Exit?
1:23:23 Where They Landed
31 Mar 2026
A Deliberation on Immigration
Bruce Fenton and Jeremy Kauffman discuss immigration, enforcement, freedom of movement, residency, citizenship, culture, and obligations to foreigners.
Chapters
00:00 How the Deliberation Works
01:52 Is an Immigration System Necessary?
04:46 Government Quotas or Market Mechanisms?
09:36 Should ICE Be Abolished?
18:59 Obligations to Foreigners
24:13 Economics, Crime, Culture, and Lifestyle
34:19 Should Private People Perform Immigration Checks?
44:16 Is Freedom of Movement a Natural Right?
51:06 Is Ethnicity Relevant to Immigration?
56:20 Guest Residency Without Citizenship
1:06:49 Border or Interior Enforcement?
1:11:53 Where They Landed
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