On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 1:06 PM, Sandwichman <[email protected]> wrote: > Measurement: what is measured is NOT economic growth. It is a proxy. You > can't measure economic growth because "the economy" doesn't actually "grow". > Any alternative index one could propose for "prosperity" or "progress" would > meet the same objection but with the additional disadvantage of not having > already become enshrined by usage. > > It's like making up a more modern, "rational" religion with more relevant > rituals. Why bother? At least part of the appeal of religion and ritual is > their mystery and incomprehensibility. A large part of the appeal of GDP and > the myth of economic growth is that they exempt people from having to > address the essential incommensurability and contentiousness of a way of > life purportedly built on the principle of market transactions.
Excellent observations! Especially the quoted parts above which I completely agree with and which I think articulates a sharp disagreement with some PEN-Lers (Jim Devine) who want to keep the monotonic growth narrative alive but with some sort of happiness index replacing the GDP. I can understand the attraction of the "eternal progress" narrative. After all some things do keep expanding without limit e.g. human knowledge, especially Science, so it is only natural that this monotonic advance is mirrored in the real world of people and nature in some way. At least in theory there must exist some index that tracks this advance. I am strongly convinced that this line of argument is wrong though I am unable to make a good philosophical argument against it. -raghu. -- Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you! _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
