On Sep 2, 2005, at 2:09 PM, Gautam Mukunda wrote:
--- Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Ahh, but the other side of that is (for instance)
how rare asteroid
strikes to Earth have been; it's probably not going
to happen as long
as our species is around. However, would you agree
with capitalism's
logic that it's inefficient -- therefore unwise --
to plan for such a
contingency and develop technology to help us
prevent it?
That's not the logic of capitalism. It's barely even
the logic of some sort of cliched stereotype of
capitalism. Protecting against risks like that is
what is called a public good.
Then why have no companies begun engineering this public good?
Shouldn't the logic of capitalism, as you've presented it, make such a
project a priority?
Gasoline is, however, not much of a public good.
Without it the nation grinds to a halt. Would you care to rethink the
above declaration in that light?
Efficiency in a market can't be the only measure of
a thing's value,
because there are human-scale effects which can't be
costed.
A true but trivial statement. Efficiency in a market
is an _enormously important_ value.
I never said it wasn't. I said it can't be the only measure.
--
Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
http://books.nightwares.com/
Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror"
http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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