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On that vein, an essay on how a pencil is made: http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html «I, Penci
by micampe 13y ago
On that vein, an essay on how a pencil is made: http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html
«I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me—no, that's too much to ask of anyone—if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because—well, because I am seemingly so simple.
Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.»
- pbhjpbhj 13y agoI seem to recall there's a similar essay for Coca-Cola.
- swombat 13y agoYep, this: https://medium.com/editors-picks/221d449929ef https://medium.com/editors-picks/221d449929ef Better than the pencil thing, imho, since it actually focuses on the can of coke itself, rather than the coffee cup the bauxite miners might be drinking.
- notdrunkatall 13y agoAlternatively, here's an excellent video based on the essay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE
- mbreese 13y agoExcept that essay doesn't tell you how to actually make a pencil... it tells you how to make a market where the components of a pencil could be bought. I think it would be more interesting (well, unless you're an economist) to describe the composition of the various parts of the pencil, how they are formed, and ultimately how the pencil is physically manufactured. Then again, I also like watching How It's Made.
- erichocean 13y agoit tells you how to make a market where the components of a pencil could be bought As I recall, the point of the essay is that you simply can't make a "market" that would produce a pencil at all. No one can. It happens organically, or not at all. The strength of markets is that they are self-organizing to a large degree (given the right conditions, e.g. political stability and preservation of capital), and that the sum is greater that the parts—in the essay, the 'sum' being the pencil, which no single organization (or government) can produce on it's own.