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These types of books should all be under 'identify problems, offer unrealistic solutions' category. It's really not that hard to identify problems. Weaving the

These types of books should all be under 'identify problems, offer unrealistic solutions' category. It's really not that hard to identify problems. Weaving them into a somewhat coherent narrative is a little more work. Having realistic solutions is the real kicker. Take Windows, the operating system. It is not unlike a political system - full of problems. Imagine people writing books about where it went wrong and how we need to rethink operating systems to fix it. Wat? Here's a quote from the books' page: > The lesson here is urgent and sobering: to rescue our economy from the next, inevitable crisis and to foster longterm economic growth, we will need to rethink capitalism, rethink the role of public policy and the importance of the public sector, and redefine how we measure value in our society. The lesson is that we need to rethink something? Very cool, we are going to rethink our way out of living in a dysfunctional plutocracy...

spaetzleesser 6y ago
"These types of books should all be under 'identify problems, offer unrealistic solutions' category." I tend to agree. Marx was right in many aspects of his analysis but his solution wasn't correct. However, we shouldn't dismiss people who identify problems correctly but offer unrealistic solutions. We should accept that these problems exist and look for solutions even if the author themselves doesn't get it right. The current ruling class likes to shout down everything that doesn't benefit them.
jahaja 6y ago
Identifying a problem and offering a solution is very different things. The latter might not fit the scope of the book. Another reason is that if one doesn't offer a comprehensive solution, but rather a shallow one, too many people will just shut-off and discard it as utopian "anti-capitalist" or "socialist". The weird thing is that this usually makes people throw out both the diagnosis and the proposed solution, even if the former is accurate.
SkyMarshal 6y ago
Agreed. This seems to be a case where despite understanding the problem, the solution is not readily apparent. The author does a good job of exploring the problem, and states that any solution will need to include reformulating economic theory of value. But I think a viable reformulation will extend or build on marginal utility rather than replacing it, perhaps with differences in second order effects of different activities on value creation.
amelius 6y ago
> Imagine people writing books about where it went wrong and how we need to rethink operating systems to fix it. I would certainly be interested in reading these books, even if they don't offer an implementation of an actual operating system.

spaetzleesser 6y ago

"These types of books should all be under 'identify problems, offer unrealistic solutions' category." I tend to agree. Marx was right in many aspects of his analysis but his solution wasn't correct. However, we shouldn't dismiss people who identify problems correctly but offer unrealistic solutions. We should accept that these problems exist and look for solutions even if the author themselves doesn't get it right. The current ruling class likes to shout down everything that doesn't benefit them.

jahaja 6y ago

Identifying a problem and offering a solution is very different things. The latter might not fit the scope of the book. Another reason is that if one doesn't offer a comprehensive solution, but rather a shallow one, too many people will just shut-off and discard it as utopian "anti-capitalist" or "socialist". The weird thing is that this usually makes people throw out both the diagnosis and the proposed solution, even if the former is accurate.

SkyMarshal 6y ago

Agreed. This seems to be a case where despite understanding the problem, the solution is not readily apparent. The author does a good job of exploring the problem, and states that any solution will need to include reformulating economic theory of value. But I think a viable reformulation will extend or build on marginal utility rather than replacing it, perhaps with differences in second order effects of different activities on value creation.

amelius 6y ago

> Imagine people writing books about where it went wrong and how we need to rethink operating systems to fix it. I would certainly be interested in reading these books, even if they don't offer an implementation of an actual operating system.