The Gospel of Conventional Economists: the Survival of the Fittest

Nipawin - Monday, September 3, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis

survival
and
dignity

"If everybody would agree that their current reality is A reality, and that what we essentially share is our capacity for constructing a reality, then perhaps we could all agree on a meta-agreement for computing a reality that would mean survival and dignity for everyone on the planet, rather than each group being sold on a particular way of doing things." -- Francisco J. Varela

Darwinian
mind set
The web site of the post-autistic economic network provides a starting point where any curious mind can take a trip into a wealth of economic and social stories. I am extremely disturbed by the ubiquitous Darwinian mind set of the "survival of the fittest' and of the related efforts of our conventional economists to find the answers to our social predicament by using the regressive tools of statistical analysis.

cultural
phenomenon
So this morning, I had a glance at the paper "Natural Selection and The Origin of Economic Growth" and I find out that the authors make reference to the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the years between 500 and 1,820. This is happening at a time when economic development is conceptualized more as a cultural phenomenon associated to freedom rather than to the growth of the GDP.

dogma
We must realize that Marx' Communism and Neoclassical Economics have the common understanding that the history of man is the history of economic materialism, and I don't buy this dogma at all as man is more than an asset measured by its contribution to the GDP. I must state that it takes the wild alienation of our conventional economists to express the GDP of any society at any time in terms of today's dollars.

statistics

guaranteed
failure

I had a glance at the paper "Governance Matters" and I find that the authors use regressive linear relationships to explain that governance is correlated to per capita income.

Our international financial institutions are supposed to play a relevant role to narrow the gap between the poor and the rich, but then how can they ever achieve this goal when their conventional economists believe in the philosophy of the survival of the fittest, historical materialism, the GDP, and the regressive tools of statistical analysis?

------------------References

Francisco J. Varela 1946 - 2001, http://www.enolagaia.com/Varela.html

Post-Autistic Economics Network, http://www.btinternet.com/~pae_news/GEN.htm

An 'Interview' with Dr Humberto Maturana, 'Interviewed' by David Mendes, February 1997 http://www.pnc.com.au/~lfell/visit.html

Natural Selection and The Origin of Economic Growth, Oded Galor and Omer Moav, July 2, 2001, Brown University working paper no. 2000-1 http://econ.pstc.brown.edu/faculty/galor/working.html

Governance Matters D. Kaufmann, A. Kraay, and P. Zoido-Lobaton (1999), World Bank Working Paper #2196 http://www.worldbank.org/research/growth/pdfiles/gov_matters.pdf


Nipawin - Monday, September 3, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis

survival and dignity	"If everybody would agree that their current reality is A reality, and that what we essentially share is our capacity for constructing a reality, then perhaps we could all agree on a meta-agreement for computing a reality that would mean survival and dignity for everyone on the planet, rather than each group being sold on a particular way of doing things." -- Francisco J. Varela

Darwinian mind set	The web site of the post-autistic economic network provides a starting point where any curious mind can take a trip into a wealth of economic and social stories. I am extremely disturbed by the ubiquitous Darwinian mind set of the "survival of the fittest' and of the related efforts of our conventional economists to find the answers to our social predicament by using the regressive tools of statistical analysis.

cultural phenomenon	So this morning, I had a glance at the paper "Natural Selection and The Origin of Economic Growth" and I find out that the authors make reference to the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the years between 500 and 1,820. This is happening at a time when economic development is conceptualized more as a cultural phenomenon associated to freedom rather than to the growth of the GDP.

dogma	We must realize that Marx' Communism and Neoclassical Economics have the common understanding that the history of man is the history of economic materialism, and I don't buy this dogma at all as man is more than an asset measured by its contribution to the GDP. I must state that it takes the wild alienation of our conventional economists to express the GDP of any society at any time in terms of today's dollars.

statistics guaranteed failure	I had a glance at the paper "Governance Matters" and I find that the authors use regressive linear relationships to explain that governance is correlated to per capita income. Our international financial institutions are supposed to play a relevant role to narrow the gap between the poor and the rich, but then how can they ever achieve this goal when their conventional economists believe in the philosophy of the survival of the fittest, historical materialism, the GDP, and the regressive tools of statistical analysis?



------------------References

	Francisco J. Varela 1946 - 2001, http://www.enolagaia.com/Varela.html

	Post-Autistic Economics Network, http://www.btinternet.com/~pae_news/GEN.htm

	An 'Interview' with Dr Humberto Maturana, 'Interviewed' by David Mendes, February 1997 http://www.pnc.com.au/~lfell/visit.html

	Natural Selection and The Origin of Economic Growth, Oded Galor and Omer Moav, July 2, 2001, Brown University working paper no. 2000-1 http://econ.pstc.brown.edu/faculty/galor/working.html

	Governance Matters D. Kaufmann, A. Kraay, and P. Zoido-Lobaton (1999), World Bank Working Paper #2196 http://www.worldbank.org/research/growth/pdfiles/gov_matters.pdf