Hi, everyone, In [USMA 460] Infrastructure, Paul Trusten asked:
Is it possible to deem a country's system of measurement as being a part of its infrastructure? If not a part of physical infrastructure, is it a part of its intellectual infrastructure, and what are the other components of intellectual infrastructure? In an article on its website, the International Monetary Fund asks a similar question What Are Global Public Goods? <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imf.org%2Fexternal%2Fpubs%2Fft%2Ffandd%2F2021%2F12%2FGlobal-Public-Goods-Chin-basics.htm&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7C835a23ff6bc74e6bc35808d9bb62fa5b%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637746856056674639%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=05gkdI85rRlgeyqBy2x%2B%2FBb7ccGD8K1WTrwfXpulOdg%3D&reserved=0> and gives the answer: Public goods are those that are available to all (“nonexcludable”) and that can be enjoyed over and over again by anyone without diminishing the benefits they deliver to others (“nonrival”). The scope of public goods can be local, national, or global. Public fireworks are a local public good, as anyone within eyeshot can enjoy the show. National defense is a national public good, as its benefits are enjoyed by citizens of the state. Global public goods are those whose benefits affect all citizens of the world. They encompass many aspects of our lives: from our natural environment, our histories and cultures, and technological progress down to everyday devices such as the metric system. No one can be prevented from using the metric system, and whenever someone uses it its usefulness to others is not diminished. The nature of their benefits sets public goods apart from the private goods we see in the store or the club goods we can pay a fee to access, but this also means they cannot be found in a store nor accessed via a simple fee. Creating public goods is much more difficult than supplying private goods, and providing global public goods poses a unique challenge. [Emphasis added] I disagree with the first sentence in the second paragraph. I remember one USMA member writing that he had asked if he could give metric measurements on his drivers licence and was told “Do you want this licence or not?” Also, I have seen requirements for reporting to US government departments that specify that the US customary system should be used. No doubt a lot of American private companies are the same. (A while back I was working in a data centre operated by a major American IT company in Australia, and its handbook for worldwide operations was all in customary measures: square feet of space, BTU of air conditioning, etc.) The Metric Maven wrote about invisible infrastructure in an essay titled: The Visible and Invisible Infrastructure <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthemetricmaven.com%2Fthe-invisible-and-visible-infrastructure%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7C835a23ff6bc74e6bc35808d9bb62fa5b%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637746856056674639%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=99EICZdS7gbN%2FIxRqu%2BAsu05vhoxvWwq4P5Zl8qQBlI%3D&reserved=0> Best wishes, Peter Goodyear, Melbourne, Australia e-mail: [email protected]
_______________________________________________ USMA mailing list [email protected] https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma
