Alejandro wrote:
"Most OPE’s members support a version of this naturalized economic fiction. Just take a look at the analogies take out of 19th century mechanics they use to present their thoughts."
Economics isn't a natural science, but a social science, and in that respect the analogies with mechanics, biology etc are valid though only up to a point. There are laws in economic life in the sense that there are patterns and regularities - for example the capitalist cycle of boom and bust. Such laws of course are not at all 'immutable', quite the contrary they are subject to historical change.
Rushkoff starts with the correct and potentially radical statement that "The marketplace in which most commerce takes place today is not a pre-existing condition of the universe", but his argument degenerates quite quickly and ends up being a call for a purer capitalism. The piece is useful in that it brings together several references to 'pop' economic views which are worth critiquing, in addition to the author's own.
Paula
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Received on Sat Sep 5 19:26:19 2009
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