Economics is can be seen as being primarily concerned with managing resources when faced with scarcity; the maximisation of expected utility. An alternative view is that aspects of economics, particularly finance, are concerned with managing resources when faced with uncertainty. This distinction is not new, Moses ben Maimon, Maimonides, argued that the suffering of mankind is not because they were expelled from the Garden of Eden into a world of scarcity but because they were expelled into a world of uncertainty. In the Garden of Eden humans had perfect knowledge, which was lost with the Fall, and it is the loss of this knowledge which is at the root of suffering: If we know what will happen we can manage scarcityMagic, Maths, and Money
Lady Credit
Tim Johnson | Academic Fellow, Department of Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics and the Maxwell Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University
(h/t geerussell via email)
This post is really about the philosophy of economics set forth in terms of the history of economic thinking. Really insightful and lots of good info. It's not perfect, but very good. You will want to read this one.Yes, MMT and Chartalism make an appearance.
6 comments:
As a social, not a "banking" species, shouldn't we be a tad bit more interested in managing our scarcity of social-organization talent, and our skills at mobilizing and practicing our coordination methods?
i.e. NOT our talent at hoarding our own fiat?
Look, fiat currency is just one arbitrary denomination of distributed public initiative.
Local hoarding of distributed public initiative ... why aren't more people reevaluating the public purpose of that particular hoarding instinct?
We could, you know, hoard coordination skills instead. Isn't that what social species do?
Thanks for posting that. This guy seems really on the ball and I look forward to seeing what he writes going forward. As you said, not perfect but very good and a fresh take from a sharp mind is always a welcomed thing.
By the way, there doesn't seem to be a link to his post there.
Thanks. In a rush and forget the link. Fixed now.
I'll offer this perhaps:
"And to the man He said, `Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and dost eat of the tree concerning which I have charged thee, saying, Thou dost not eat of it, cursed [is] the ground on thine account; in sorrow thou dost eat of it all days of thy life,
18 and thorn and bramble it doth bring forth to thee, and thou hast eaten the herb of the field;
19 by the sweat of thy face thou dost eat bread till thy return unto the ground, for out of it hast thou been taken, for dust thou [art], and unto dust thou turnest back.'" Genesis 3
So you can see here where God decrees: "cursed is the ground" and then correspondingly "by the sweat of they face thou dost eat bread" which sounds like more than just hard work...
So human society back then (I'm talking pre-flood) was not what we might term today a "surplus society" and we couldn't really get anywhere because it looks like during those times agricultural productivity gains were non-existent... the ground was not productive and would not easily produce our food...
Then fast forward to right after the flood:
"And Noah buildeth an altar to Jehovah, and taketh of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and causeth burnt-offerings to ascend on the altar;
21 and Jehovah smelleth the sweet fragrance, and Jehovah saith unto His heart, `I continue not to disesteem any more the ground because of man, though the imagination of the heart of man [is] evil from his youth; and I continue not to smite any more all living, as I have done;
22 during all days of the earth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, do not cease.'" Genesis 8
So here God decrees: "I continue not to disesteem any more the ground because of man..."
So here He transitions us over to what we term today a "surplus society" because all up to that time of the flood, He "cursed the ground" and we just couldn't progress economically ...
It looks like pre-flood, things were a lot more difficult for us in REAL terms...
God put in what we now know as the "surplus society" right after the flood...
Related: I do not believe this concept of "the fall" is scriptural you would have to show me where the scriptures say this... we did NOT "fall" imo....
What I see here in the passage above is this: "though the imagination of the heart of man [is] evil from his youth.."
So our "hearts" are NOT evil per se, it is THE IMAGINATION of our hearts that can be evil...
Like imagining "We're out of money!" and the evil that often leads to for instance... ie the unjust distribution of the REAL surplus that God has provided since all the way back to the flood ...
In REAL TERMS, we have had a great surplus society since the flood, WE ONLY CAN "IMAGINE" THAT WE DON'T...
(our current morons are proof of this imo... "We can't afford it!" , etc...)
rsp,
This is a good one from Tim here:
"Commodity theories are more popular than representative theories because they are perceived as simpler, and hence have the veneer of common sense logic. It is obvious that if money is a tangible, physical asset its quantity should correspond to some calculation of tangible of tangible objects. Since the physical planet is a closed system money is scarce and in this framework Ayn Rand’s argument that selfishness, the dominance of one’s own interests, is a virtue and altruism a vice, is inevitable."
I couldnt more agree with this...
That Randian BS relies on "imagined" scarcity....
Super article by Tim here... super... this is the discussion our entire western civilization should be having 24/7/365 imo .... there really is nothing else we should be talking about at this point...
rsp,
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