Strange Notions is a new Disqus site run by Brandon Vogt to try to discuss Rationality and Reason with Athiests. He may well succeed with some, but there is one subset of atheism he will never succeed with. On Richard Dawkin's spectrum of theistic probability , those with a score 6 and above often fall into something I term fundamentalist atheism. Many of them come from fundamentalist Christian backgrounds, if not in their generation, then within three generations of their recent past. Fundamentalist Atheism starts with the assumption that the supernatural doesn't exist and that the natural world is all there is, and runs with it, denying any data to the contrary. I've always been one to consider the natural to be a subset of the supernatural- that is the only real difference between the natural and the supernatural to me is the line of the shared scientific knowledge of mankind. A scientist, therefore, if he is to learn anything new about the universe, needs to have h...
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I hope that your office move is going well.
I wanted to comment that I don't agree that the items you list are basic assumptions in the construction of our economic system. Rather, I think they are conventional wisdom that has crept into our system as it has evolved since the industrial revolution. In any event, I would agree that these notions must be taken into account as we try to rebuild our system. That is especially true of #3. As a enlightened society, we must first establish a dignified minimal living standard for all citizens.
Michael Hudson wrote a wonderful historical perspective earlier this week. I hope you find it interesting.
As to Michael Hudson's piece, it's something that has been troubling me for some time: the problem of freedom is that it includes the freedom to do evil. Having said that, I think subsidarity and a lack of anonymity go a LONG way- If Madoff had known he'd have to face his investors at church, school functions, civic duties, and wear many hats in addition to his chosen profession such as committee chairperson, mayor, or dog catcher, I doubt greatly that he would have either been able to amass millions OR chosen his ponzi scheme method of doing business.
There's a lot to be said for the small village/local government method of doing things, where no business has more than 40 employees and no city grows to more than 10,000.