Re: [Marxism] Mathematical economics and political economy in the Soviet Union
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I skimmed the articles, and then did a search for "alibaba logistics," alibaba being China's e-commerce giant. Commentators on the latter's growth in size and scope point to advantages similar to those enjoyed by Amazon in terms of using data to become a service provider to companies big and small looking to outsource many kinds of function. For instance: http://fortune.com/2017/06/26/china-alibaba-jack-ma-retail-ecommerce-e-commerce-new/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Mathematical economics and political economy in the Soviet Union
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Great set of links, thanks! I agree that the algorithms, factors, variables, etc. etc. would all be dramatically different. The question is does the hardware and math involved make socialist calculation qualitatively more feasible? _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Mathematical economics and political economy in the Soviet Union
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Andrew: is there any reason to believe that the database calculations used for amazon/whole-foods would in any way be useful for in-kind calculations based on physical, non-monetary variables? i'd be curious myself to see what can be learned about Amazon/WF logistics and algorithms, but i have this funny feeling their whole computational flow is based on lowest cost or highest profit to amazon, with delivery time as secondary factor. i also doubt we will see actual algorithms in use save for what they are willing to put into patents or academic papers. a little googling to get a sense of the big picture and a place to start. logistics: http://logisticstrendsandinsights.com/the-focal-point-of-amazons-logistics-network-fulfillment-by-amazon/ https://logistics.amazon.com/ (distributed transport/delivery) https://ilsr.org/amazon-logistics-map/ http://www.mwpvl.com/html/amazon_com.html https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/29/is-logistics-about-to-get-amazoned/ jobs: https://us-amazon.icims.com/jobs/328931/web-development-engineer-ii,-amazon-logistics-technology/job?mobile=true=false algorithms (some pieces are known, somewhat): https://www.a9.com/whatwedo/product-search/ http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2016/04/mythbusting-the-amazon-algorithm-reviews-and-ranking-for-authors/ https://theconversation.com/algorithms-can-be-more-fair-than-humans-64047 https://www.fastcompany.com/3060803/algorithmic-pricing-is-creating-an-arms-race-on-amazons-marketplace https://www.propublica.org/article/amazon-says-it-puts-customers-first-but-its-pricing-algorithm-doesnt Les On 06/26/2017 01:51 PM, Andrew Pollack via Marxism wrote: I've mentioned here and on Facebook the relevance of the logistics revolution - most recently manifested in the Amazon/Whole Foods merger - to these questions by virtue of the computing power behind them. It would be good IMO to get details on this, for instance what computer programs and mathematical tools are used by leaders in the field for their just-in-time stocking, their next day delivery, etc. etc. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Mathematical economics and political economy in the Soviet Union
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * All very useful, thanks Jim and John. I've mentioned here and on Facebook the relevance of the logistics revolution - most recently manifested in the Amazon/Whole Foods merger - to these questions by virtue of the computing power behind them. It would be good IMO to get details on this, for instance what computer programs and mathematical tools are used by leaders in the field for their just-in-time stocking, their next day delivery, etc. etc. All of this, of course, must be coupled with the reminder that it's not always rocket science needed. In the article Louis forwarded on Johnston - and another Times article this weekend on why men won't take nursing jobs (the punchline of the author: because they suck) - it's clear to those who want clarity that you don't need even a PC to figure out how to shift resources from manufacturing to care work. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Mathematical economics and political economy in the Soviet Union
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Comrades, In his posting (below) Jim Farmelent mentioned Leonid Kantorovich ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Kantorovich) as well as Paul Cockshott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cockshott). Here is Cockshott's article on Kantorovich, 'Calculation in Natura' ( https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0e3a/443d6fb314eb8b160576faa9928aa151d6fb.pdf), in which he begins with Otto Neurath’s ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Neurath) proposition that economic calculation can be done and the efficient usage of resources accomplished without reference to a scalar "whether this be money, labour hours or kilowatt hours" (p12). Neurath supported his contention with reference to lessons that could be learned from "The war (WWI) economy had...been largely an in-kind economy. As a result of the war the in-kind calculus was applied more often and more systematically than before... It was all to apparent that war was fought with ammunition and the supply of food, not with money." (pp9-10). But, Cockshott writes, Neurath "arguably did not provide a practical means of doing this..." (p9). However Kantorovich did. Prior to examining that work Cockshott gives a tip of the hat to the contributions of John von Neumann (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann), eminent mathematician and quantum theorist whose work "unified the matrix mechanics of Heisenberg with the wave mechanics of Schrodinger" (15). Cockshott details that "His work on quantum mechanics coincided with the first draft of his economic growth model given as a lecture in Princeton in 1932. In both fields he employs vector spaces and matrix operators over vector spaces, complex vector spaces in the quantum-mechanical case, and real vector spaces in the growth model." While the language of the math-science is at or above my level of comprehension, a conclusion that he applied abstract mathematical modeling to the real problems of economic efficiency is plain ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Mathematical_economics). Cockshott cites others in proposing that von Neuman's insights were precursed by Robert Remak ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Remak_%28mathematician%29) who showed "for the first time how, starting from an in-natura description of the conditions of production, one can derive an equilibrium system of prices" (15). It is then asserted that von Neumann improved on this thinking by allowing "for there to be multiple techniques to produce any given good-Remak only allowed one" (16). However, "In the early 30s, no algorithmic techniques were known which would solve the more general problem where there can be joint production and multiple possible techniques to produce individual products" (17) when "Kantorovich came up with a method which later came to be known as linear programming or linear optimisation (19). Kantorovich wrote: "I discovered that a whole range of problems of the most diverse character relating to the scientific organization of production (questions of the optimum distribution of the work of machines and mechanisms, the minimization of scrap, the best utilization of raw materials and local materials, fuel, transportation, and so on) lead to the formulation of a single group of mathematical problems (extrernal problems). These problems are not directly comparable to problems considered in mathematical analysis. It is more correct to say that they are formally similar, and even turn out to be formally very simple, but the process of solving them with which one is faced [i.e., by mathematical analysis] is practically completely unusable, since it requires the solution of tens of thousands or even millions of systems of equations for completion. I have succeeded in finding a comparatively simple general method of solving this group of problems which is applicable to all the problems I have mentioned, and is sufficiently simple and effective for their solution to be made completely achievable under practical conditions" (19). Cockshott sums this up as "What was significant about Kantorovich’s work was that he showed that it was possible, starting out from a description in purely physical terms of the various production techniques available, to use a determinate mathematical procedure to determine which combination of techniques will best meet plan targets" (19)." Cockshott goes on to describe Kantorovich's method and math in an altogether fascinating demonstration in which different machines with different capabilities even making different products and even different quantities of those different products can be chosen from the myriad of possibilities so as to achieve maximal results from
