Ah yes the world of the cancerous tumor on a once beautiful woman.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sandwichman Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 3:51 PM To: [email protected]; RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People Alfred Marshall, the "father" of neoclassical economics said pretty much the same thing about throwing away the ladder of mechanical analogies once you've climbed up it. Today's economists tell us that their ladder is a model of the world and to the extent that the two diverge, the world must be made more ladder-like. "The most helpful applications of mathematics to economics are those which are short and simple, which employ few symbols; and which aim at throwing a bright light on some small part of the great economic movement rather than at representing its endless complexities. "Thus, then, dynamical solutions, in the physical sense, of economic problems are unattainable." On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 10:59 AM, Mike Spencer <[email protected]> wrote: Sandwichman wrote: > Didn't Wittgenstein say, "If you have nothing to say, STFU!" He may well have meant that but, regrettably, he didn't word it quite so forcefully: What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence. More regrettably, > "These are economists who claim that economics has nothing to say > about national income accounting yet somehow they still expect to > get paid for their expertise..." are quite able to speak voluminously about that which, absent better ideas or insights, they arguably *should have* passed over in silence. Given that they did and do speak, they should append Ludwig's disclaimer: My propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands me eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them -- as steps -- to climb up beyond them. (He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up it.) But no, their propositions are put in text books and drilled into politicians and managers. "There's no use trying," [Alice] said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." The Red Queen as economist. - Mike -- Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. /V\ [email protected] /( )\ http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework -- Sandwichman
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