Comments on: Fixing the Economy the Scientific Way

By: Nullius in Verba

Nullius in Verba — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:08:39 +0000

“it should serve as a way to make easy achieving greater projects that benefits everyone.”

Quite right.

The aim is not to “create jobs” – that can be done quite easily by smashing everybody’s windows and then employing extra glaziers to fix them – the aim is to achieve more for less cost, less human effort.

We are not just scientifically illiterate, we are also economically illiterate too. Ask the average American to summarise the argument in Bastiat’s Sophisms or the connection between unemployment and the marginal propensity to save and you’ll just get a blank look. But when it comes to debates about how to achieve economic recovery, feel qualified to contribute. Everyone has an opinion.

If we need to spend more on science in bad economic times, does that mean we need to spend less on science in the good times? If we spent 100% of our GDP on scientific research, would that propel us to economic super-success? If not, does that not mean there is a point of maximum benefit, above which we could be said to be spending too much on science? And when we have less money to spend, which way does that maximum point move?

Or do we always need to spend more on science in all and any circumstances? Are scientists just another interest group lobbying to protect their own interests at the expense of others? Are we really no better than that?

Asking people to name a scientist is treating science like celebrity. A more interesting question would be to ask people to explain a single scientific theory or principle.

By: OSG

OSG — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:53:46 +0000

I think mr. Mooney is right, knowledge is power and while masses doesn’t have it they always will be cheated by economy. In my opinion the enterpreneurs have forgotten the main reason of their own existence, all of us work for and by of money while there are still some people who really use money as a mean for greater purposes as devoloping knowledge. That should be the real use of economy, instead a closed circle of money for money, it should serve as a way to make easy achieving greater projects that benefits everyone.

And that is not comunism is just pursuing the utopy, everybody know it isn’t going ever to exist but that doesn’t mean that we cannot try to seek for it or at least aproach to it…

By: RGM

RGM — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:05:04 +0000

Mr. Mooney,

I read your Op-Ed in the LA Times. Your ideas are nice; however your article is nothing more than a cheerleader’s rally cry for the home team.

Instead of writing some puff piece, you should write something of substance regarding the problem you speak of.

Ph.D.

By: JMW

JMW — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:30:44 +0000

Yeah, but that requires delaying gratification. People will want the cool gadgets and such like, but they don’t want to do the work NOW to get them later. They just want them NOW.

It’s kind of like a creationist view of technology. This stuff just happens because god wills it.

Sorry if I seem depressing and negative. But I’m steadily losing faith in the masses. They’ve succumbed to a campaign of dumbing down – whether that campaign was deliberate or accidental is another question, and my feeling on that varies from day to day depending on the state of my brain’s Conspiracy Theory centre – and now they’re incapable of defending themselves against any irrational idea that comes down the pike.