Thorstein Veblen?
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I feel certain I've seen that name before, maybe in the citations for reports on the models of evolutionary economics I once worked on? I don't know. But now I *must* read a little deeper. Tomgram: Ann Jones, Our Veblen Momen https://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176550/ > Of course, Veblen, who could build a house with his own hands, imagined a working world free of such predators. He envisioned an innovative industrial world in which the labor of producing goods would be performed by machines tended by technicians and engineers. In the advanced factories of his mind’s eye, there was no role, no place at all, for the predatory Business Man. Yet Veblen also knew that the natural-born predator of Gilded Age America was already creating a kind of scaffolding of financial transactions above and beyond the factory floor -- a lattice of loans, credits, capitalizations, and the like -- so that he could then take advantage of the “disruptions” of production caused by such encumbrances to seize yet more profits. In a pinch, the predator was, as Veblen saw it, always ready to go further, to throw a wrench into the works, to move into the role of outright “Saboteur.” > -- ☣ uǝlƃ ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
uǝʃƃ ⊥ glen
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Personal notes, off topic.
Thorstein Veblen wrote Theory of the Leisure Class and, I believe, originated the phrase “conspicuous consumption”. For the mathematicians out there, Thorstein’s brother (I think. Considering the age of these recollections he might have been a cousin) was Oswald Veblen, one of the first mathematicians appointed a permanent member of the Institute for Advanced Study in the 1930s. One of my roommates freshman year at Harvard was John Veblen, the great grandson of one of these. His father was a lawyer in Seattle. When I went to Microsoft, John was living in Seattle, and another of my freshman roommates was in the math department of the U. of Washington. The math roommate and his wife had become good friends with John’s parents (who were god-parents to their children) and my wife and I joined them for Thanksgiving dinners for several years and we joined their book club until we move to Bainbridge Island several years later. I mention this only as another bit of evidence that the world is smaller than you think. --Barry On 11 Apr 2019, at 17:00, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote: > I feel certain I've seen that name before, maybe in the citations for > reports on the models of evolutionary economics I once worked on? I > don't know. But now I *must* read a little deeper. > > Tomgram: Ann Jones, Our Veblen Momen > https://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176550/ > >> Of course, Veblen, who could build a house with his own hands, >> imagined a working world free of such predators. He envisioned an >> innovative industrial world in which the labor of producing goods >> would be performed by machines tended by technicians and engineers. >> In the advanced factories of his mind’s eye, there was no role, no >> place at all, for the predatory Business Man. Yet Veblen also knew >> that the natural-born predator of Gilded Age America was already >> creating a kind of scaffolding of financial transactions above and >> beyond the factory floor -- a lattice of loans, credits, >> capitalizations, and the like -- so that he could then take advantage >> of the “disruptions” of production caused by such encumbrances to >> seize yet more profits. In a pinch, the predator was, as Veblen saw >> it, always ready to go further, to throw a wrench into the works, to >> move into the role of outright “Saboteur.” >> > > > -- > ☣ uǝlƃ > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove |
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Barry writes:
"I mention this only as another bit of evidence that the world is smaller than you think." It's big but compresses remarkably well. It matters whether we are counting classes or instances. Marcus ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove |
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