A libertarian strategy for promoting the metric system

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Step 1  -	Do some research and admit that the Metric System of weights and measures is in fact mathematically and economically superior, and that it sucks how most American consumers still don't prefer it - because if they did the businesses would obviously switch.  Set aside a tiny fraction of your online time to research the issue further and debate it with others.
Step 2  -	Use something like Google to check if there's an existing libertarian strategy for promoting the Metric System without resorting to government force.  If you can find one, feel free to borrow some ideas.  If you don't, feel free to initiate your own, which is exactly what the author of this forum post is now doing.
Step 3  -	Take individual responsibility for your own behavior as a consumer, which probably doesn't tilt a single penny in favor of the Metric System.  You alone will not change the world, but your own reputation will record your efforts to make the world a slightly better place.
Step 4  -	Come up with a personal plan for "tilting a penny" (so to speak) in favor of the Metric System.  If you run a business that produces physical goods, then what you can do is rather obvious.  If you are a consumer, as all of us are, this means exerting just a tiny bit of effort to do your part to profess your preference for the Metric System.  If you see two identical products, one priced in pounds and the other in kilos - simply buy the latter!
Step 5  -	Set aside a few minutes each month to write a letter to one company whose products you consume.  The first letter you write will probably take you longer, but you can then just copy and paste chunks of it for subsequent ones.  Tell them how frequently you buy their products, what you like about them, and what you dislike.  This is an opportunity to kill multiple birds with one stone by mentioning any number of things in your letter in addition to what weights and measures you think they should use.  For the purposes of this issue, the essential thing to mention is that, all other things being roughly equal, you would buy their competitor's products if they switched their labeling to the Metric System first.  The company will probably just ignore your letter, but you're not just writing it for them, you're writing it for yourself and your reputation as well.
Step 6  -	In addition to mailing or e-mailing this letter to the company, also post it on your blog (and/or another publicly-accessible corner of the Internet, like the FTL forum) for others to see.  This is how consumer activism campaigns, even one as small as this, can grow and turn into larger movements, but even if they don't - you'll still have the bragging rights for doing the right thing, even on this minor issue.
Step 7  -	The next time a socialist tries to point at America's use of ye olde Imperial system of weights and measures as supposedly an example of "market failure", or mockingly asks you how many slugs there are in a bushel of apples, tell her that you are doing your part to promote the Metric System, combined with the rest of the libertarian lecture for why government interventionism would have been bad.
Step 8  -	As more and more companies voluntarily make the switch, you will be able to claim some small part of the credit, and use it to motivate others to join other consumer activism efforts to gradually make the world a slightly better place.  Sure, a revolution could have made those changes faster, but at what cost?

[The ghost of a ghost of a ghost]

Buy/sell weed as a way to familiar yourself with conversion rates.  Most people talk english but buy metric in this sub-culture.

 "I'll take an ounce of the Sour-Diesel-Kush."

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Just as an experiment, I submitted this story as a scoop to FTL:

http://freetalklive.com/content/libertarian_strategy_promoting_metric_system

[davann]

Eh, metric system? Why bother? The U.S. is the last super power in the world. Should not all the other little countries be changing to our system? They can think of it as an act of contrition, a show of subservience and loyalty to the rightful ruler of the world. The European countries along with Russia should be the first to do this as they have shown themselves to be utter failures in the role of world domination.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

You now come off as precisely the straw-man stereotype of an "evil capitalist" that the socialists so love to morally belittle!

The Metric System can be scientifically demonstrated to encourage consumers to make more mental calculations as they shop and improve mathematical reasoning skills, which leads to a more efficient market mechanisms even in the most low-tech of business environments.  It leads to fewer misestimates, fewer unit conversion errors, faster ability to make decisions without reaching for a calculator, and so on.

[ForumTroll]

I can't do the metric system in my head.

[sandm000]

The metric system is a less efficient system because 1) it dehumanizes scales of measurement (Which is good when talking about things like the universe, bad when talking about human things) 2) the default error is a multiple of 10 error, Which is extremely bad when giving injections to infants.

[davann]

You now come off as precisely the straw-man stereotype of an "evil capitalist" that the socialists so love to morally belittle!

Mere heretics in the king's court. They will be crushed under the heel of the world's rightful masters along with their broken system of measurement.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

I can't do the metric system in my head.

You are comparing apples to oranges because you use ye olde Imperial system every day while you only use the metric system now and again.  I was born in a country where the metric system was the standard, so I am similarly biased in the other direction, but it is logical that the metric system would be easier to use based on its simplicity, consistency, and universality.  People whose lives are equally split between both (like the generation of the British subjects who've made the switch) tend to agree.

1) it dehumanizes scales of measurement

I have 10 fingers, not 5280 (yes, I had to look that up).

2) the default error is a multiple of 10 error, Which is extremely bad when giving injections to infants.

That is a legitimate downside only if error rates in metric countries are higher, which I seriously doubt.  Using an unintuitive system that is different than the rest of the world introduces far, far greater causes of error.

[fatcat]

1 litre of water = 1 kilo of water = 1 meter cubed of water

BAM!

[AL the Inconspicuous]

You mean 10 cm³ (or 1 dm³, but no one would use that term) cube of water (at strictly defined purity, pressure, and temperature - which you needn't worry about for everyday calculations).

But, yeah, much easier than converting about 33.8140 U.S. fluid ounces (35.1950 British fluid ounces) to 61.0237441 cubic inches!

[Level 20 Anklebiter]

You forgot to point out that base 10 measures are easier to compute in base 2. They're interchangeable to a lesser extent with octal and hexadecimal.

[fatcat]

You mean 10 cm³ (or 1 dm³, but no one would use that term) cube of water (at strictly defined purity, pressure, and temperature - which you needn't worry about for everyday calculations).

yeah my bad, i always fuck up on cubing

[anarchir]

I think people are going to choose what they want here, and use both. We use metric frequently in cooking too. Perhaps not in your kitchen, but in professional ones for determining how much food to serve. 4oz of corned beef on that reuben.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

yeah my bad, i always fuck up on cubing [the metric system]

Yes, but in communist Cuba the system always fucks up you!   

[...]  4oz of corned beef on that reuben.

Are those avoirdupois, troy, Apothecaries, Maria Theresa, Dutch, or Chinese ounces? 

And if you were to put those 4oz of corned beef on a pizza and someone asks you how much of it was in a 1/5th or a 1/6th slice of it, you're gonna wish it was 120 grams instead.