He describes his current research interests below:
> I've always been interested in formalisation, and so I've been
> attracted to the matrix algebraic accounts of the economy whether
> Marxist or neo-Ricardian. I'm currently particularly focussed on
> "globalisation" and the consolidation of imperialist blocs, partly
> because of the position of Aotearoa/New Zealand in this process.
>
> I'm also especially interested in the articulation of different modes
> of production within a single social formation and the related issue
> of "accounting" of non-commodity production. My partner is a Marxist
> anthropologist and this is one of her areas of interest.
>
> Because I'm a professional developer, my own bias on the issue of
> socialist planning is to see it as a feasible computing project. I've
> built a small-scale (500 commodity) material planning system (for a
> central government ministry) essentially identical with Cockshott and
> Cottrell's proposal. I've been fascinated by the work they did on
> designing a large-scale centralised-planning server... but it's not
> the key aspect of the problem for me (because I can see it's feasible,
> almost unproblematic). I think that the key to the success of such a
> system is the automatic collection of economic data at the point of
> production. I don't think managers filling in forms with production
> data will cut it... actually networked physical production measurement
> devices and centralisation of machine-readable purchase and sale
> documents are needed.
>
> Here in Aotearoa the infrastructural prerequisites for full
> computerisation of the market (and hence for its dethronement) are
> particularly well developed, especially retail electronic funds
> > transfer.
>
> Of course, the real obstacle to the introduction of socialist planning
> is the capitalist regime... but again, gathering and maintaining the
> "political" prerequisites are the keys to most large-scale computing
> projects. I think that detailed socialist planning proposals are not
> in the least utopian even in the current conditions (where the right
> wing are firmly on top) because they are essential to building a
> socialist ideological response to free-marketism.
For further information, you can check-out his Web site:
http://www.reddfish.co.nz/reddfish.brendan.htm
Brendan: welcome aboard!
In solidarity, Jerry