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Varoufakis is a great economist and his placement as the Finance Minister is a smart move from the new government. At this point I would like to suggest reading

Varoufakis is a great economist and his placement as the Finance Minister is a smart move from the new government. At this point I would like to suggest reading To Future And Back by I. Pitsouli[1]. Somewhere in it, there is suggested (or prophecized if you wish) that in years to come scientists will replace politicians in governments. Well, that has already started happening and is right IMO because science is closely related to philoshopy which in turn by definition deals with problems related to reality, existence, values, etc. ie. the everyday problems most politicians seem to ignore nowadays. ps. Varoufakis definitely needs to revisit Bitcoin though[2] [1] http://www.amazon.com/Future-Back--More-than-Prophecies-ebook/dp/B004C44G5K/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422303976&sr=1-3&keywords=pitsouli http://www.amazon.com/Future-Back--More-than-Prophecies-eboo... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7841186 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7841186

numair 12y ago
Wow, what a futuristic concept, to have a government comprised of scientists! I wonder which forward-thinking Western government will implement this first? http://singularityhub.com/2011/05/17/eight-out-of-chinas-top-nine-government-officials-are-scientists/ http://singularityhub.com/2011/05/17/eight-out-of-chinas-top... ;)
- jahewson 12y ago
  Germany.
  - arethuza 12y ago
    Mrs Thatcher had a chemistry degree from Oxford and Jimmy Carter was a US Navy trained nuclear engineer.
  - thomasz 12y ago
    Politics in Germany is an apprenticeship trade that takes countless hours from adolescence onward. You do not have the time to become a successful scientist and a successful politician in the same life.
    - SyneRyder 12y ago
      I'm not sure if I missed the sarcasm, but Angela Merkel had a doctorate in quantum chemistry before she became the Chancellor of Germany: "She spent the final moribund decade of the G.D.R. as a quantum chemist at the East German Academy of Sciences, a gloomy research facility, across from a Stasi barracks, in southeastern Berlin. She co-authored a paper titled “Vibrational Properties of Surface Hydroxyls: Nonempirical Model Calculations Including Anharmonicities.” She was the only woman in the theoretical-chemistry section — a keen observer of others, intensely curious about the world." [1] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german
      - thomasz 12y ago
        She's the exception that proves the rule. Her rise was made possible by the turmoil caused by the reunification that opened up that career path for highly educated people who kept their distance to the regime. [1] is another example with ... comparable ... charisma. But again, they are rare exceptions. [2] says that there are 27 members of parliament with a doctorate in engineering, 8 with a doctorate in biology, 7 in math, 2 chemistry, one in geology, and one in computer science. And I doubt that many of them have been working in science after the doctorate. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Platzeck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Platzeck [2] http://scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/2011/03/21/wissenschaftler-im-bundestag-eine-crowdsourcingstatisik/ http://scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/2011/03/21/wissenschaft...
simonebrunozzi 12y ago
Why do you say he has to revisit Bitcoin? Genuine question, just curious to hear your thoughts about his view.
- atmosx 12y ago
  Maybe he didn't read closely enough his thoughts. Actually, Varoufakis from his twitter account said that since there is this post around[1] by our beloved Berlinese internet-economist TechieChan he didn't had to analyze BTC any further. A couple of points he made are: * He believes that the BTC market can be manipulated by big players easily. * Having a central bank regulating your economy is a good thing, because you know to whom point the finger when shit hits the fan. * He understands that liberals like the perception of freedom that bitcoin gives but it's ultimately false. All points which I share and believe although I have bought and sold BTC in the past. These are not insights really, these are elementary economics. It's strange that programmers who understand algorithms and cryptography can not wrap their around these things. It always amazed me, I can't explain it :-/ [1] http://www.techiechan.com/?p=1954 http://www.techiechan.com/?p=1954
  - xkarga00 12y ago
    Maybe reading his post twice wasn't enough. Or maybe it's just that Bitcoin is not just "money" but the whole underlying technology ie. the blockchain is about to introduce huge changes into things we have been used to do in a certain way.
    - atmosx 12y ago
      The post was about Bitcoin (the currency) not bitcoin (the protocol). You read it twice and didn't get that part? :-P
      - xkarga00 12y ago
        Well, that's exactly why Varoufakis has to revisit Bitcoin. Because the protocol's pros outweight by far the currency's cons.
jameshart 12y ago
"in years to come scientists will replace politicians in governments" Not an especially new idea, especially in a Greek context. Plato, in Republic: "The society we have described can never grow into a reality or see the light of day, and there will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed, my dear Glaucon, of humanity itself, till philosophers become rulers in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."
- xkarga00 12y ago
  "Not an especially new idea" I didn't claim it to be one. Of course Plato and his thoughts are behind it and if you give the book I mentioned a shot you'll find out that he is heavily mentioned in it.
fsloth 12y ago
I think practical politics are closer to hustling than philosophy. Main problem with politicians IMO is that they often stand behind domain experts and claim that political decisions are inevitabilities of natural law.

numair 12y ago

Wow, what a futuristic concept, to have a government comprised of scientists! I wonder which forward-thinking Western government will implement this first? http://singularityhub.com/2011/05/17/eight-out-of-chinas-top-nine-government-officials-are-scientists/ http://singularityhub.com/2011/05/17/eight-out-of-chinas-top... ;)

jahewson 12y ago
Germany.
- arethuza 12y ago
  Mrs Thatcher had a chemistry degree from Oxford and Jimmy Carter was a US Navy trained nuclear engineer.
- thomasz 12y ago
  Politics in Germany is an apprenticeship trade that takes countless hours from adolescence onward. You do not have the time to become a successful scientist and a successful politician in the same life.
  - SyneRyder 12y ago
    I'm not sure if I missed the sarcasm, but Angela Merkel had a doctorate in quantum chemistry before she became the Chancellor of Germany: "She spent the final moribund decade of the G.D.R. as a quantum chemist at the East German Academy of Sciences, a gloomy research facility, across from a Stasi barracks, in southeastern Berlin. She co-authored a paper titled “Vibrational Properties of Surface Hydroxyls: Nonempirical Model Calculations Including Anharmonicities.” She was the only woman in the theoretical-chemistry section — a keen observer of others, intensely curious about the world." [1] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german
    - thomasz 12y ago
      She's the exception that proves the rule. Her rise was made possible by the turmoil caused by the reunification that opened up that career path for highly educated people who kept their distance to the regime. [1] is another example with ... comparable ... charisma. But again, they are rare exceptions. [2] says that there are 27 members of parliament with a doctorate in engineering, 8 with a doctorate in biology, 7 in math, 2 chemistry, one in geology, and one in computer science. And I doubt that many of them have been working in science after the doctorate. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Platzeck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Platzeck [2] http://scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/2011/03/21/wissenschaftler-im-bundestag-eine-crowdsourcingstatisik/ http://scienceblogs.de/frischer-wind/2011/03/21/wissenschaft...

simonebrunozzi 12y ago

Why do you say he has to revisit Bitcoin? Genuine question, just curious to hear your thoughts about his view.

atmosx 12y ago
Maybe he didn't read closely enough his thoughts. Actually, Varoufakis from his twitter account said that since there is this post around[1] by our beloved Berlinese internet-economist TechieChan he didn't had to analyze BTC any further. A couple of points he made are: * He believes that the BTC market can be manipulated by big players easily. * Having a central bank regulating your economy is a good thing, because you know to whom point the finger when shit hits the fan. * He understands that liberals like the perception of freedom that bitcoin gives but it's ultimately false. All points which I share and believe although I have bought and sold BTC in the past. These are not insights really, these are elementary economics. It's strange that programmers who understand algorithms and cryptography can not wrap their around these things. It always amazed me, I can't explain it :-/ [1] http://www.techiechan.com/?p=1954 http://www.techiechan.com/?p=1954
- xkarga00 12y ago
  Maybe reading his post twice wasn't enough. Or maybe it's just that Bitcoin is not just "money" but the whole underlying technology ie. the blockchain is about to introduce huge changes into things we have been used to do in a certain way.
  - atmosx 12y ago
    The post was about Bitcoin (the currency) not bitcoin (the protocol). You read it twice and didn't get that part? :-P
    - xkarga00 12y ago
      Well, that's exactly why Varoufakis has to revisit Bitcoin. Because the protocol's pros outweight by far the currency's cons.

jameshart 12y ago

"in years to come scientists will replace politicians in governments" Not an especially new idea, especially in a Greek context. Plato, in Republic: "The society we have described can never grow into a reality or see the light of day, and there will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed, my dear Glaucon, of humanity itself, till philosophers become rulers in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."

xkarga00 12y ago
"Not an especially new idea" I didn't claim it to be one. Of course Plato and his thoughts are behind it and if you give the book I mentioned a shot you'll find out that he is heavily mentioned in it.

fsloth 12y ago

I think practical politics are closer to hustling than philosophy. Main problem with politicians IMO is that they often stand behind domain experts and claim that political decisions are inevitabilities of natural law.