Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Ah. The squid ink.

wriggle and spin
Robert — (archived)

I'd grant you a doctorate in theology, Tom. You've memorized the free-market capitalism canon, but that hardly equips you to understand anything outside that comforting dogma.

"BTW, for extra credit, you should be able to tell me the hidden assumptions underlying that phrase."

No, Tom, that's the point, you tell me what incorrect assumption you make when you encounter that phrase. You've answered the question before, and since you're unwilling to do it again, I'll do it for you. You only get to the second word in that phrase before flaming out. Remember? All you can think of (in a fine display of superstitious animism) is who might be doing the allocating, which lets you tie it to a familiar rant, normalizing it to your religious beliefs about free-market capitalism.

But "algorithm" is the key. Do you even know what an "algorithm" is? Here's a hint: Adam Smith described an algorithm, simplistically expressed as "the 'law' of supply-and-demand".

Get it yet?

Want to talk about economic systems in terms of process control theory? Know what a PID loop is, and how it maps on to our present-day economic system? Know where James Watt's steam-engine governor fits into the taxonomy? And why a steam boiler is a nice analogy for an economy?

I'm sure you can win any spelling-bee based on memorized FMC dogma, no contest. But can you grasp anything outside the dogma without a cranial explosion? I think not.

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