OK, this is very off-topic. Sorry. On Fri, Oct 05, 2007 at 06:36:34PM -0400, a wrote: > Linas Vepstas wrote: > >For the most part, modern western culture espouses and hews to > >physical non-violence. However, modern right-leaning "pure" capitalism > >advocates not only social Darwinism, but also the economic equivalent > >of rape and murder -- a jungle ethic where only the fittest survive, > >while thousands can loose jobs, income, housing, etc. thanks to the > >"natural forces of capitalism". > > > This, anyway, is a common misunderstanding of capitalism. I suggest you > to read more about economic libertarianism.
My objection to economic libertarianism is its lack of discussion of "self-organized criticality". A common example of self-organized criticality is a sand-pile at the critical point. Adding one grain of sand can trigger an avalanche, which can be small, or maybe (unboundedly) large. Despite avalanches, a sand-pile will maintain its critical shape (a cone at some angle). The concern is that a self-organized economy is almost by definition always operating at the critical point, sloughing off excess production, encouraging new demand, etc. Small or even medium-sized re-organizations of the economy are good for it: it maintains the economy at its critical shape, its free-market-optimal shape. Nothing wrong with that free-market optimal shape, most everyone agrees. The issue is that there's no safety net protecting against avalanches of unbounded size. The other issue is that its not grains of sand, its people. My bank-account and my brains can insulate me from small shocks. I'd like to have protection against the bigger forces that can wipe me out. --linas ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=50672693-e11dc1
