On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 11:48 AM, Daniel Taylor <random at argle.org> wrote: > On 08/19/2010 06:24 PM, J.A. Simmons V wrote: > > We first will have to fix a few of your initial assumptions. > > > > The construct is not all knowning, does make mistakes but can be self > > correcting. It cannot be smarter then anything since it is not an actual > > entity capable of thinking. I will agree that it can't be smelled, > > touched, or heard, but neither can the concept of numbers. There are > > those that have trust and those that do not have trust in the > > construct. I will agree that it can start wars, just like it can spark > > exploration, drive the founding of a new colony that will then become > > the seed for a great superpower. More over, I will add that this > > concept is the closest thing to freedom that any known economic system > > can provide. > > > While your presentation is true, so is Robert's. Many people have faith > in "The Free Market" at the level of religious fervor. The ideal of a > free market held up by these people is quite mythical, having never > existed and having no proof that it ever could exist beyond the most > trivial case. > That was really my point. Thanks for nailing it squarely on the head. Quick follow ups to some of J.A. Simmons' points... J.A. Simmons wrote: JAS > I will agree that it can't be smelled, touched, or heard, but neither can the concept of numbers. Numbers quantify and measure. They don't prescribe. JAS > There are those that have trust and those that do not have trust in the construct. Interestingly, while we would do well to not blindly trust interpretations of numbers, we generally don't need to question numbers themselves, do we? That observation casts your comment in the light of a strawman defense, which is a type of misdirection. JAS> More over, I will add that this concept is the closest thing to freedom that any known economic system can provide. It is also a model that has enabled tyranny and oppression - a lack of freedom. -Rob -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20100820/26527830/attachment.htm