4 ms·

The invisible hand (not gods) of the (not market)

• posterboy 3y ago
  the invisible microbes of the appendix are shaping the reservoir effects for a reason
• dredmorbius 3y ago
  Adam Smith uses the term "invisible hand" three times in his writings (only once in Wealth of Nations) in a manner which makes clear that it isn't a description of a mechanism but rather a remarking on the unknown nature of a complex process. Smith was immersed in an atheistic tradition (a more overt contemporary would have been Smith's close friend David Hume), and "invisible hand" immediately suggests the more theistically-themed phrase "hand of God". Smith himself was not openly athiestic, and uses religious terms and concepts elsewhere (notably in The Theory of Moral Sentiments), but does seem to at the very least be liberally-minded. His mother, with whom he lived until late in his own life, was quite religious, which may have affected his thinking and/or writing. But "invisible hand", again, should be interpreted as "by some unknown or poorly-understood mechanism", which is to say, an expression of ignorance, where it's most often interpreted or presented as a description of the mechanism, which is really inexcusable.
  • calvinmorrison 3y ago
    Dats da joke
    • dredmorbius 3y ago
      In which case it fell flat. Irony and obscure humour both play poorly online. You might want to be clearer.