Just as computers and just-in-time manufacturing haven't eliminated cut-throat competition and anarchy of production in Western capitalism, so the problem with the Soviet economy under Stalin and subsequently wasn't mainly lack of computational ability. The article by Marcel Fafchamps says that "this system could more or less handle large planned investments in heavy industry", but in fact the anarchy manifested itself sharply in heavy industry as well as elsewhere. There was an anarchy of production due to the competing interests of the different sections of the bureaucracy; this has occurred over and over again under state-capitalism. And this is why the greater the computational ability in the Soviet Union, and the more sophisticated the mathematics, the more the anarchy persisted.
See "The anarchy of production behind the veneer of Soviet revisionist planning" (March 1997) at http://www.communistvoice.org/12cSovAnarchy.html. On 25 Mar 2021 at 6:03, Jim Farmelant wrote: > > The dream of central economic planning died > with the USSR. Thirty years later, > technologies for matching supply and > demand are a reality in America - as is the > potential for surveillance Lenin and Stalin > could only have dreamed of. > By Marcel FafchampsUpdated March 24, 2021, 9:22 a.m. > >> > But such algorithms now do much more than simply matching > individuals or firms based on their stated preferences: They also > forecast demand. Artificial intelligence and big data make it > possible > to predict preferences at the individual level in real time, thereby > enabling algorithms to facilitate trade by reducing consumers´ > search > costs. This is achieved by collecting vast amounts of individual > data, > often without anyone being aware of how revealing this data is about > their political views, sexual orientation, health conditions, > criminal > activity, wealth, and income. Not even the East German Stasi or the > Romanian Securitate could have dreamed that such information > would be surrendered without resistance. > So where do we stand? We are at a crossroads. The technology > necessary to put in place a centrally planned police state is now a > reality. Whether this technology is used for this purpose is but a > matter of time. At the end of last year, Jack Ma, the creator of > Alibaba, went missing for three months. We later learned that he had > been chastised by the Chinese authorities for announcing an > ambitious plan that would have strengthened Alibaba´s position in > the > economy. This warning shot only serves to remind us that algorithms > of exchange can one day fall under direct or indirect government > control. Alternatively, private interests could just as easily > capitalize > on this technology for huge private gain. > > The question then is: How can we protect civil liberties in the face > of > these enormous challenges while continuing to enjoy the benefits > that all these algorithms generate? This is the biggest question > facing > us today. How we resolve it will determine how we - and our > children -will live tomorrow. > Marcel Fafchamps, an economist at Stanford University, is senior > fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. > > This article was updated on March 24 to clarify the reference to the > Soviet Union´s creation. > > > > -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7513): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7513 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/81598391/21656 -=-=- 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. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
