Alright, Europeans, given that the Americans will, with increasing likelihood, elect an autocrat, how will you prepare? I will assume that Putin will grow more bold and so will Netanyahu. Hopes for an imminent solution to climate change will become less likely. I know it’s depressing, but one thing I learned from the pandemic is that survival is community based. So how can we prepare, both as individuals, and as parts of our local communities?
Senator Tester asks a very reasonable question with the intuitive understanding of the economy as an adaptive system. Economist Powell answers with three variables, one of which is under his control. This is exactly the problem. The adaptive effects in the complex system they are manipulating is outside of their model. He is being asked how they factor in, short answer is: They don’t.
3/ Anyway. If we remove ideological doctrines that are extrapolated from simplistic economic models. What is left?
A system of systems of systems etc. A real global economy. Hundreds of slightly or massively different national economies, which break down across all sorts of things like sector, geography, class, whatever. Down to the individual.
But also a system that has at least partially been created by these economics ideologies. Which means that it has clear features from them. On all scales.
2/ Also they will both be absolutely enraged that anyone would dare to say such things about their movement, which is obviously right and good. And such a person would necessarily have to be either ignorant or possibly evil.
1/ Meta: Ok, thinking out loud, what is the purpose of this? What have we learned that is of value?
The initial insight was how unscientific economics actually is. How they use extremely simplified models of the world, and then make actual changes in the real economy based on these models.
TW for pissing off everybody
Also that both communism and capitalism are extrapolations on such economic models and therefore tend to drive towards extremism/fundamentalism to try to make reality more like their models. Since both communism and capitalism here then take more the shape of religions, they will naturally drive members towards being “more pious”. As many cult-like entities they need clear enemy stereotypes figures, and also saint-like icons, whom can fall hard after being placed on pedestals and then not being “right”/“pure”. There is a drive to the bottom because the only way “paradise” can be unlocked from their models is if reality contorts itself. And since the promise of “paradise” is so strong and clear, they will accept that some people/lives will be lost, but it will be worth it in the end, when the model fulfills its promise of utopia. So there seems to be a built in drive for war/revolution/oppression.
4/ but then the question really becomes: who cares? It is what it is.
But I think that might not be sufficient anymore. We need to change the world. Not to satisfy some economic religion, but because we only have one planet and we can’t seem to stop breaking it.
9/ After talking to a bunch of you, I think maybe one can operate consistently if you are just one person, but a group needs a common understanding/vision/values to operate as a consistent unit.. And that makes sense in a political system too. And maybe that’s what we are actually doing already.
7/ In business there has been a lot of talk about mission, vision, culture, “our why” etc and they have often taken that into semi formal systems like OKR etc. The fundamental assumption seems to be that if we, as a group, have a common and clear understanding of what we are trying to do, we will be more effective at that.
Maybe? In practice, to me, it often feels like a whole song and dance for a bunch of extroverts who don’t actually know why we do what we do.
I have to say I am really impressed by this “spontaneous” coalition in France. I hope all of us will manage to be that pragmatic if/when we are in the same situation. *glances almost imperceptibly across the Atlantic*
If Piketty becomes prime minister or even a minister of any kind I will need multiple drinks.
But either way, congratulations to the French people who showed up in record numbers to fight fascism at the ballot box. And congratulations to the parties of the left/center/green who facilitated this choice. 🇫🇷
68/ I really thought I’d be more convinced by leftist economists. But they are methodically all very similar. And it is the methodology I have issue with in this whole… project(?).
This field has imo structural issues and they aren’t fixed by the practitioner being less of an ass.
The problem is they believe in these simplistic models and that is standing in the way of developing the kind of tooling, discipline and humility needed when working with complex systems imo.
70/ Related to this, if you had a billion dollars and you were convinced that we were facing a climate catastrophe which might even be an extinction level event. Where would you put your money to try to save it (don’t say you’d give it away, because you didn’t become a billionaire by giving stuff away)? https://social.vivaldi.net/@Patricia/112719504676456386