Thank you, Stan. I think you are right, but there is also another aspect that should be considered. C. H. Waddington discussed it in his last book "Tools for Thought":
"*The financial system is such that people are compelled to discount (i.e. neglect) future, at a rate, which is an inverse of an exponential growth rate. It forces on everyone a very short-term point of view. This has been one of the main reasons why our technological advances have landed us so far in the soup; and it presents one of the major difficulties in seeing how we can plan more sensibly for a reasonably long-term future."* * * *Best,* * * *Plamen* * * ** On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 4:56 PM, Stanley N Salthe <ssal...@binghamton.edu>wrote: > Professor Zadeh's meaning of 'efficiency increase' is cost-cutting. It is > interesting to note that in one area this would be impossible -- the > construction of infrastructure like bridges, tunnels, etc. This is one > area where efficiency increases would largely be impossible, and so that > function needs to be performed by pubic funds levied by taxes. The major > opposition to that is military expenditure, which consumes most of an > 'important' society's funds. The military does not reckon efficiency > increases as a benefit either. Its function is claimed to have priority if > there is to be a society in the first place. It might be said that the > major reason for the existence of any state is military activity. So, > infrastructure upkeep is squeezed between cost-cutting by firms that would > be needed to support it, and by tax fund devouring by the military. > > > STAN > > > On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 10:34 AM, Pedro C. Marijuan < > pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es> wrote: > >> I think this might be of interest for FISers too. ---P. >> >> -------- Original Message -------- >> Subject: Fw: [bisc-group] The Curse of Efficiency >> Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2013 09:45:41 +0800 >> From: 赵川 <zh...@cdut.edu.cn> >> To: Pedro C. Marijuan <pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es>, Joseph Brenner < >> joe.bren...@bluewin.ch>, Mihir-work <mihi...@gmail.com> >> >> >> >> lets share this reflection idea of Zadeh. Zhao Chuan >> >> >> -----原始邮件----- >> *发件人:* "Lotfi A. Zadeh" <za...@eecs.berkeley.edu> >> *发送时间:* 2013-06-28 06:53:42 >> *收件人:* >> bisc-gr...@lists.eecs.**berkeley.edu<bisc-gr...@lists.eecs.berkeley.edu> >> *抄送:* >> *主题:* [bisc-group] The Curse of Efficiency >> >> Dear members of the BISC Group: >> >> Sometime ago, January 1, 1998, I wrote a piece on efficiency. On >> reading this piece, it occurred to me that what I said at that time is >> still valid. Following is what I wrote. Comments are welcome. >> >> Regards to all, >> >> Sincerely, >> >> Lotfi >> >> >> *The Curse of Efficiency* >> >> >> >> Recently, I had a brush with efficiency. My experience added a notch to >> an accumulating level of anger and frustration over what is becoming an >> all-too-common experience in our efficiency-driven society. >> >> A friend locked himself out of his car in front of my house. He asked me >> to call Emergency Road Service for assistance. I dialed the number and, as >> usual, was greeted with a recorded message: “Your call will be answered by >> the next available representative. Thank you for waiting. Our call center >> is presently experiencing a high volume of calls and all service >> representatives are busy servicing other member calls. Please accept our >> apology.” >> >> For the next several minutes, I heard the same message repeated over and >> over again, with recorded music in between. As I was holding the handset, >> my blood pressure was rising. I asked myself: What would I do if I had to >> place the call not from the comfort of my home but from an outdoor phone in >> freezing weather? In a state of frustration, I felt an irrational urge to >> smash the handset down. In a related way, the exasperating experience of >> dealing with menu-driven voice-mail systems make many of us nostalgic for >> the days when such labor-saving systems did not exist. >> >> The issues which underlie experiences like mine are well-understood. By >> downsizing its workforce, a company lowers operating costs, increases >> profits, improves its competitive position, increases stock price, wins >> applause from Wall Street and, not coincidentally, increases the value of >> stock options of its executives. The losers are the laid-off workers and >> the company’s clientele. For a company, the advantages of downsizing are >> clear-cut. The pain and inconvenience inflicted on others carry much less >> weight. However, as in the case of price wars, unilateral moves to improve >> efficiency may result in a situation in which everybody is worse off. >> >> Beyond the obvious issues there are two that stand out in importance. >> First, the benefits of efficiency are usually measurable and immediate, >> while the costs are diffuse, hard to quantify and many lie in the future. >> An example is the addition of lead to gasoline, which had greatly improved >> the efficiency of gasoline engines. It took decades to realize that the use >> of lead additives is a serious health hazard, particularly in the case of >> children. Once the consequences were understood, the use of lead additives, >> at least in the United States, was phased out. >> >> Another example is the use of antibiotics in animal feed. In this case, >> improvement in efficiency has led to the development of drug-resistant >> bacteria and a growing number of allergic reactions in the general >> population. A more recent example is the unfreezing of land rents in >> Egypt―aimed at improving the efficiency of land utilization―which may >> pauperize hundreds of thousands of tenant farmers and lead to serious >> social unrest. >> >> Second, a move to improve efficiency generally leads to a small gain for >> many and a large loss for few. A classic example is a reduction in tariffs >> on importa. In this case, many gain a little and a few experience the >> trauma of losing their jobs. Another example is our health care systems. In >> this instance, an improvement in efficiency leads to lower health care >> costs for many and a substantially reduced income for a relatively small >> number of specialized medical personnel. >> >> At what point does a small gain for many outweigh a large loss for a few? >> There is no theory of justice or rationality that provides an answer to >> this fundamental question and it is not likely that there will be one in >> the foreseeable future. >> >> A basic issue that relates to efficiency plays a pivotal role in the >> current turmoil in financial markets. >> >> In the United States, it is an article of faith that deregulation, >> privatization, free trade and globalization lead to higher efficiency and >> bring about economic growth. However, in a paper which I wrote in 1974, I >> suggested that the growing degree of interdependence brought about by >> technological progress and its concomitant globalization necessitate a >> higher degree of coordination and regulation to maintain stability and >> prevent catastrophic failures. This necessity is in conflict with >> acceptance of deregulation as a prime component of economic policy. >> >> The problem is that in democracies the electorate is resistant to higher >> levels of coordination, regulation and taxation, and future generations >> have no vote. The result is a growing imbalance which I described as the >> crisis of undercoordination. In my view, it is primarily this imbalance >> that underlies the financial, economic and social crises that are spreading >> in extent and growing in intensity. >> >> -- >> Lotfi A. Zadeh Professor Emeritus >> Director, Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC) BISC Homepage URLs >> URL: http://zadeh.cs.berkeley.edu/ >> >> >> -- >> ------------------------------**------------------- >> Pedro C. Marijuán >> Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group >> Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud >> Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Aragón (CIBA) >> Avda. San Juan Bosco, 13, planta X >> 50009 Zaragoza, Spain >> Tfno. +34 976 71 3526 (& 6818) >> pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es >> http://sites.google.com/site/**pedrocmarijuan/<http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/> >> ------------------------------**------------------- >> >> >> ********************************************************************* >> >> Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC) >> ********************************************************************* >> >> >> If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, >> you can send mail to <sy...@lists.eecs.berkeley.edu> with the following >> command in the body of your email message: >> unsubscribe bisc-group >> or from another account, >> unsubscribe bisc-group <your_email_adress> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> fis mailing list >> fis@listas.unizar.es >> https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > fis mailing list > fis@listas.unizar.es > https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis > > -- ___ ___ ___ Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov landline: +49.30.38.10.11.25 fax/ums: +49.30.48.49.88.26.4 mobile: +49.17.43.56.41.75 email: pla...@simeio.org URL: www.simeio.org ================================================================ recent project: http://www.inbiosa.eu/en/ recent book: http://www.springer.com/engineering/computational+intelligence+and+complexity/book/978-3-642-28110-5 current activity: http://www.inbiosa.eu/en/Calls-For-Papers-View.html?article=can-biology-create-a-profoundly-new-mathematics-and-computation
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