Tag Archives: Philosophy

from Lars Syll What does concern me about my discipline, however, is that its current core — by which I mainly mean the so-called dynamic stochastic general equilibrium approach — has become so mesmerized with its own internal logic that it has begun to confuse the precision it has achieved about its own world with the precision that it has about the real one … The dynamic stochastic general equilibrium strategy is so attractive, and even plain addictive, because it allows one to generate...

from Asad Zaman The Puzzle of Newton’s Mind Isaac Newton is often celebrated as the ultimate rationalist, the scientist who unlocked the mysteries of the cosmos and ushered in the modern age. But there is a problem with this image—one that is so inconvenient that it has been quietly brushed aside. Newton, the father of modern physics, was also a theologian who wrote over a million words on religious matters. By sheer volume, he devoted more time to obscure theological debates than to the...

from Peter Radford Yes, I am confused. At least I admit it. There’s a lot going on, and someone like me often wallows in the activity as a way of understanding.  I like to see the systemic rather than the particular.  I am very bad, I admit, at details.  I gravitate to the long term.  What, I usually ask, does all this imply for  what comes next?  And how does it connect with the past? This biases me towards the dramatic.  The swoosh of certainty when an avenue appears within the clutter...

from Lars Syll Mainstream economists often hold the view that Keynes’ criticism of econometrics resulted from a sadly misinformed and misguided person who disliked and did not understand much of it. This is, however, nothing but a gross misapprehension. To be careful and cautious is not the same as to dislike. Keynes did not misunderstand the crucial issues at stake in the development of econometrics—quite the contrary. He knew them all too well and was not satisfied with the validity and...

from Peter Radford Random thoughts on day one of America’s war on the world.  This is my way of summarizing, it is not definitive by any means!  I wrote in haste. Here’s a quote to get us started: “What made fascism attractive in Europe and elsewhere was its combination of national autarkic aims, militarism, statism, and a glorification of technology, which suited the inclinations and interests of military rules and modernizing autocrats.”  [Osterhammel and Peterson; “Globalization, A...

from Lars Syll It is a great fault of symbolic pseudo-mathematical methods of formalising a system of economic analysis … that they expressly assume strict independence between the factors involved and lose all their cogency and authority if this hypothesis is disallowed; whereas, in ordinary discourse, where we are not blindly manipulating but know all the time what we are doing and what the words mean, we can keep “at the back of our heads” the necessary reserves and qualifications and...

from Peter Radford  This is something I need to get off my desktop.  It’s just for fun … Asymmetry is the very beginning and end of an economy.  It’s the bumps that matter.  Explain them and you explain the economy.  After all the very notion of exchange presumes differences between those involved, and difference is just another way off saying asymmetry.  Sweep the bumps away with a broad brush of supposedly superb logic and you eliminate the very object of your study.  That is if your...

23 November 2024 This book tells three stories about the impact of machines on the human condition: on the way  we work, on our freedom, and on our physical survival. Each story contains within it a vision of heaven and hell: the promise of relief from work, freedom to think our own thoughts, and almost indefinite improvement of health and extension of life   confronts  their  opposites  in the spectre of human uselessness, of Orwelliam thought control, and of  man made disaster....

July 19, 2024 This essay falls into three parts. First, I  discuss the question of what it is which makes  humans unique — that is, irreplaceable.  Second, I consider whether  machines  on balance  enhance or diminish humanness.   This has become an issue of the moment  with the growth of machine intelligence. Finally, I try to answer two questions: how can we secure our survival as  human beings? Is it worth trying to do so? A quick preview of  my answer to the first question. Some...

from Asad Zaman and WEA Pedagogy Blog Introduction: Beyond the Jungle For centuries, capitalism has told us that land is a commodity to be bought, sold, and exploited for profit. It has also sold us a dangerous myth: that humans are inherently competitive, isolated individuals, destined to fight for survival in a brutal world. According to this worldview, land belongs to those who claim it first and use it for personal gain. But this idea is not only destructive—it’s profoundly false....