Hi DMB, Khaled ... Interesting documentary. Where is that summary from DMB ?
In defence of game theory - Nash's ideas were that most complex socio-intellectual actions are a game - moves that anticipate the moves of others - where we players are rational agents. This provided a way of modelling and predicting outcomes to help decision-making. The problems arise when people using such models take too narrow a "selfish" view of the agents "interests" and too crude a view of "rationality". Then we get self-serving "autistic" & "neurotic" economics - the kind that has been dragging us down since Friedman, Thatcher and Reagan. Regards Ian On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 11:56 PM, david buchanan<[email protected]> wrote: > > > Khaled provided a link to the BBC documentary, 'the trap' > http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17371.htm > > > dmb says: > Thanks for that, Khaled. I've started watching it and find it to be quite > delicious. I found a succinct little summary of the kind of stuff people will > find in the film, at least in the first part. Hopefully, this will help > explain some of the main ideas... > > Here is our take on the fundamental differences of belief and values that > differentiate the 'Nordic Model' and the 'Free-market' type best exemplified > by the United States.Free Market Assumptions > The building blocks of a society are individuals, their families and > immediate dependents. 'Society' - the wider association of interdependent > individuals - is a chimera dreamed up by left-wing intellectuals. (See > Margaret Thatcher*).The best outcomes for all will come from individuals > acting in their own interests. (See Game Theory**). Successful, highly > motivated people ought not to be restrained in their pursuit, accumulation > and disposal of wealth.The Market represents the summation of collective > knowledge and wisdom and produces better results than interventions and > initiatives by institutions, especially governments.Markets are the most > efficient way of allocating resources in a society, as they will be deployed > to those places where the needs are greatest and the returns highest.Markets > also self-adjust efficiently, resolving anomalies and glitches automatically > and far more effectively than government led intervention.Institutions, > especially governments, are incapable of improving the lot of people - only > economically successful, highly motivated individuals working in free markets > can do that. Their success can be an example for all to follow. It will also > be beneficial to all through increasing the total stock of wealth and such > mechanisms as 'trickle-down' and philanthropy.* Margaret Thatcher famously > said: "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women > and their families". This interesting statement would seem to be connected > with her strong belief in markets as being better mechanisms for fulfilling > individuals' needs than community or government. Behind this view, lies the > bizarre science of Game Theory - see next point. > ** The deep assumptions lying behind the belief that markets are the most > effective means of fulfilling peoples' deepest wants and needs arises from > the assertion that human beings are selfish individuals, inexorably driven by > a simple desire to fulfil their own interests, adjusting their behaviour to > counter others' attempts to do the same. Game Theory, which supports this > idea, is backed by complex mathematical models that purport to explain human > behaviour. This theory has been adopted by some biological scientists, who > postulate that humans, like all animals, are receptacles for and driven by, > the selfish need of their genes to reproduce. In this sense, human behaviour > is determined by genetics, people will follow a set of rules which can be > understood by complex mathematical modelling. This theory was developed to > predict adversaries' behaviour in the Cold War and eagerly taken up by some > geneticists and economists.In case you think economic science has gone mad, > all the above is fact. These theories have been enthusiastically adopted by > many economists and politicians who assert that, given that people are driven > simply by selfish individualism, then the market is a more effective means of > giving them what they need than membership of society or democratic politics. > The economics of Reagan, Thatcher, Blair and Bush have all been driven by > Game Theory and its derivatives, even if they didn't understand that! The > high priests of these wondrous theories are an economist, James Buchanan > (who, when it was put to him that people had a social conscience and cared > about others, said that he "couldn't compute" that) and mathematician John > Nash, who made a recovery from the paranoid schizophrenia from which he was > suffering when he developed his theories.These constructs are now being > seriously challenged in both economic and biological domains and John Nash > later described his own theories as being grossly simplistic and not at all > representative of the complexity of human beings.Adam Curtis, who has > produced a brilliant series of BBC TV documentaries on these themes, sums it > up nicely: "The only people who still believe these theories are (some) > economists - and psychopaths" And maybe the Economist magazine?? > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Express your personality in color! 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