In a civil society, dmb, the free market includes the exchange of intellectual ideas. Nobody forces you to talk and think. It is about non-coercive economic and intellectual exchange. Anything else is an advocation for initiation of physical coercion and is anti-liberty.
Nick > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "david buchanan" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] Reductionism > Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2009 10:52:42 -0600 > > > > Ron said to John: > I am not a detractor of Platt, I just dislike his tactic of > transferal from a relevant discussion of David Bohm and how system > theory functions in relation to physics into demonizing him as a > purveyor of evil. Convolutedly drawing a parallel from systems > theory to Bolshevism. Just to bait for an irrelevant arguement to > incite yet another pointless degeneration into an Arlo/Krimel/Platt > ad hominem flame war. > > > dmb says: > The irony in Platt's convoluted nonsense is that systems theory is > used quite extensively to support and explain free market > economics, social darwinism and Adam Smith's invisible hand. It is > used to justify Platt's ideology. It says humans act out of > rationally calculated self-interest so that each individual is the > "part" while the economy is the "whole". All these individual > selfish acts add up to a functioning structure, they say. Thus you > get slogans like, "greed is good" and selfishness is seen as a > virtue. Sadly, guys like Richard Dawkins are pushing genes and > memes as parallel notions in biology and culture. As I see it, this > is exactly what Pirsig was talking about in his complaints about > rational and scientific amorality. The free market system caters to > any desire and when you look around it seems to be all about > Doritos and Coke. Mostly, it just leads to a kind of gasoline > powered hedonism. > Not that I'm above that sort of thing. My friends and I recently > enjoyed champaign and caviar while camping in the desert. That > ice-cold coke I drank after our trek through a canyon was pure > pleasure and later, around the campfire, those roasted marshmallows > really hit the spot. But that's probably how the dog felt when he > ate that lizard but I'm sure he doesn't know anything about Adam > Smith or Social Darwinism. My point? There is nothing noble about > catering to such desires. These are just biological values, > creature comforts. And to the extent that we put these values above > social and intellectual values, we are just pigs with jobs, as Ron > so aptly put it. In that sense, Platt's position always strikes me > as rather low-brow and degenerate. > What I like best about camping is the conversation. Campfire > philosophy is far more delicious than any corn chip and often warms > me better than the fire does. I like to believe that campfire > philosophers go all the way back to the beginning of human history, > that it's the second oldest tradition we have. Why not the oldest > tradition? Because cooking meat is just a little older. Or so I > imagine. Naturally, we did that too. > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. > http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_QuickAdd_062009 > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
