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The real world is full of emergent properties ... socialism is top-down control. Surely the idea of applying the mind of man to better controlling man is abhorr

The real world is full of emergent properties ... socialism is top-down control. Surely the idea of applying the mind of man to better controlling man is abhorrent. "It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees" Sure. But it seems as though Einstein is arguing against a _caricature_ of capitalism, ignoring the free and voluntary cooperation required among its participants for it to succeed. The _cooperation_ inherent in a functioning market economy so often seems to be overlooked.

madair 17y ago
This top-down thing is getting tiresome. Typically this sort of statement is given by conservatives and libertarians. I'm not exactly sure how they manage to convince themselves that their dual love affair with military dominance & patriotic zeal impose less social control. [Edit:] Well, actually, Stockholm Syndrome is one likely factor. It's amazing what sort of legs that research has, there really should be more comparative studies.
- gnosis 17y ago
  Yep. Not to mention their advocacy for prohibiting abortion and prohibiting people from doing drugs, and their advocacy for "law and order" and being "tough on crime" (yet another form of social control). At least the non-socially-conservative libertarians are consistent in being against many of these things (the War on Drugs, military intervensionism, being anti-abortion). But there are plenty of other problems with libertarianism, such as their generally being ok with people getting screwed over by one another, as long as its the result of "market forces", or there's a contract saying it's ok for one to screw over the other.
- Semiapies 17y ago
  "This top-down thing is getting tiresome." Then you figure out a way around the economic calculation problem. There's a Nobel in it for you. Until then, I'm going to simply be amused at how it's unfair to note that Albert Einstein wasn't actually an economic expert, but it's perfectly reasonable to engage in knee-jerk US political stereotypes.
  - madair 17y ago
    Wow.

madair 17y ago

This top-down thing is getting tiresome. Typically this sort of statement is given by conservatives and libertarians. I'm not exactly sure how they manage to convince themselves that their dual love affair with military dominance & patriotic zeal impose less social control. [Edit:] Well, actually, Stockholm Syndrome is one likely factor. It's amazing what sort of legs that research has, there really should be more comparative studies.

gnosis 17y ago
Yep. Not to mention their advocacy for prohibiting abortion and prohibiting people from doing drugs, and their advocacy for "law and order" and being "tough on crime" (yet another form of social control). At least the non-socially-conservative libertarians are consistent in being against many of these things (the War on Drugs, military intervensionism, being anti-abortion). But there are plenty of other problems with libertarianism, such as their generally being ok with people getting screwed over by one another, as long as its the result of "market forces", or there's a contract saying it's ok for one to screw over the other.
Semiapies 17y ago
"This top-down thing is getting tiresome." Then you figure out a way around the economic calculation problem. There's a Nobel in it for you. Until then, I'm going to simply be amused at how it's unfair to note that Albert Einstein wasn't actually an economic expert, but it's perfectly reasonable to engage in knee-jerk US political stereotypes.
- madair 17y ago
  Wow.