Originalism, the school of constitutional interpretation currently modish among conservative lawyers and judges, is not so much an idea as a legal-industrial complex divided into three parts—the academic, the jurisprudential, and the political. In its first part, originalism is an academic pursuit, one that a large number of law scholars have embraced with gusto. A […]
So you want to know how Jefferson would think about gig workers spoofing the GPS on their jailbroken phone to game their virtual employer’s algorithmic payment model?
You’re gonna need to find enough relevant text about his philosophy that you can confidently assert what he’d think if he stepped out of a time machine (and had 5-10 years to catch up), or you need to map every little aspect of the modern world back to a colonial era concept that’s specific enough to be an accurate translation, which just seems like too massive of a construct to remain useful.
It’s a doomed task. And for what? How is it even useful?
By the way: You Are Not So Smart has a great interview with the author of “The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning”, if you prefer to listen to discussion of the absurdity of Originalism.
It’s ridiculous from the start.
So you want to know how Jefferson would think about gig workers spoofing the GPS on their jailbroken phone to game their virtual employer’s algorithmic payment model?
You’re gonna need to find enough relevant text about his philosophy that you can confidently assert what he’d think if he stepped out of a time machine (and had 5-10 years to catch up), or you need to map every little aspect of the modern world back to a colonial era concept that’s specific enough to be an accurate translation, which just seems like too massive of a construct to remain useful.
It’s a doomed task. And for what? How is it even useful?
By the way: You Are Not So Smart has a great interview with the author of “The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning”, if you prefer to listen to discussion of the absurdity of Originalism.