Book of the Week

[sandGroundZero]

Good Economics for Hard Times

A very readable book on economists and economics. General reading, but perhaps appreciated particularly by the nerds among us. Particularly recommended for bulletin board denizens with strong opinions who've not much to do.

[sandGroundZero]

Another good read for those of you who like to think from time to time

Astra Taylor. published in the UK by Verso, 2019

Table of Contents
Introduction: Living in the Tension
1. Free to Be Winners and Losers (Freedom/Equality)
2. Shouting as One (Conflict/Consensus)
3. Reinventing the People (Inclusion/Exclusion)
4. Choose This, or Else! (Coercion/Choice)
5. Is This What Democracy Looks Like? (Spontaneity/Structure)
6. A Socratic Mob (Expertise/Mass Opinion)
7. New World Order (Local/Global)
8. A Ruin or a Habitation (Present/Future)
Conclusion: From Founding Fathers to
Perennial Midwives
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

What is democracy really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist? Astra Taylor …provides surprising answers.

[The PNP]

What is democracy really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist? Astra Taylor …provides surprising answers.

Imo, democracy = majority rule......But due to the way votes are counted, some so-called 'democracies' (including ours) often end up with minority rule.

[sandGroundZero]

The PNP's post #3:

"Imo, democracy = majority rule..."

Read the book. It will expand your outlook!

[The PNP]

The PNP's post #3:

"Imo, democracy = majority rule..."

Read the book. It will expand your outlook!

Thanks, may do when time permits.

An example of the way I see democracy is: Take a small community of island dwellers, say a population of 100. They all meet periodically to make their big decisions. This is done by a simple raising of hands for/against each motion.....51 or more hands carries a motion, 49 or less defeats the motion. In unlikely case of a draw, the chair decides.

In practice, with large populations and large landmasses, it's not physically possible to do things that way....Short of having 100's of referendums per year, the closest way to reach a democratic outcome is with Proportional Representation. Our present flawed system, which steers the country according to the wishes of say 25% to 30% of the population, can not be called democratic.

[sandGroundZero]

How Stories Go Viral …

Princeton University Press ISBN: 9780691182292

[said]

Good Economics for Hard Times

A very readable book on economists and economics. General reading, but perhaps appreciated particularly by the nerds among us. Particularly recommended for bulletin board denizens with strong opinions who've not much to do.

People seldom behave in line with economic models.

[said]

Democracy May Not Exist…Gone does not advise on the most efficacious system. It examines what people mean by words including democracy, freedom and equality — that is, it's an invitation to discovery.

In response to The PNP's post #5:

"Thanks, may do when time permits.
"An example of the way I see democracy is: Take a small community of island dwellers, say a population of 100. They all meet periodically to make their big decisions. This is done by a simple raising of hands for/against each motion.....51 or more hands carries a motion, 49 or less defeats the motion. In unlikely case of a draw, the chair decides.
"In practice, with large populations and large landmasses, it's not physically possible to do things that way....Short of having 100's of referendums per year, the closest way to reach a democratic outcome is with Proportional Representation. Our present flawed system, which steers the country according to the wishes of say 25% to 30% of the population, can not be called democratic."

The masses of the population have become too large and too diverse for absolute democracy to have much effect - so now we are reduced to the carrot and stick effects.

[seivad]

People seldom behave in line with economic models.

It's the fact that many economists keep basing their predictions on the same tired old simplistic theories. If you study the times they have based their models on these theories, and see what the end result was, it's as clear as day that the world doesn't work the way they say it will. The evidence is out there, so why can't we dispel the myths?

[sandGroundZero]

[/I][/U] "In a well-ordered city every man flies to the assemblies; under a bad government no one cares to stir a step to get to them …As soon as any man says of the State What does it matter to me? the State may be given up for lost."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau from The Social Contract

c.f. post #8:

"The masses of the population have become too large and too diverse for absolute democracy to have much effect - so now we are reduced to the carrot and stick effects."

…reflects a particular understanding of "democracy".
Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone aims to elucidate other ways of thinking about democracy and associated concepts. It illustrates that views are typically conditioned by our social and economic circumstances.

[sandGroundZero]

Published by Atlantic Books ISBN: 9781786496393

[sandGroundZero]

The Art of Scepticism in
a Data-Driven World

Imprint: Allen Lane
Published: 04/08/2020
ISBN: 9780241327234
Length: 352 Pages
RRP: £20.00

Due for publication in August. However, from the Guardian:
'There is no absolute truth': an infectious disease expert on Covid-19, misinformation and 'bullsh*t'

[said]

It's the fact that many economists keep basing their predictions on the same tired old simplistic theories. If you study the times they have based their models on these theories, and see what the end result was, it's as clear as day that the world doesn't work the way they say it will. The evidence is out there, so why can't we dispel the myths?

Because economists work with numbers and numbers alone. Models are created by humans allocating numbers to imagined events, but not to all events. The results are flawed because they have limited parameters. The economists attempt to seek replication where no pattern could every exist.

[sandGroundZero]

The Art of Scepticism in a Data-Driven World

The formal definition that we use is “language, statistical figures, data, graphics and other forms of presentation that are intended to persuade by impressing and overwhelming a reader or listener with a blatant disregard for truth or logical coherence”.
The idea with bullsh*t is that it’s trying to appear authoritative and definitive in a way that’s not about communicating accurately and informing a reader, but rather by overwhelming them, persuading them, impressing them. If that’s done without any allegiance to truth, or accuracy, that becomes bullsh*t.

— Carl Bergstrom, ex: Guardian interview

Imprint:

Allen Lane

Publication date:

August 2020

[sandGroundZero]

This week's recommedation

A forceful argument about the stealthy resurgence of monopoly within the global economy.

Teachout, a law professor at Fordham University, redirects progressive attention toward this easily overlooked issue. “Wall Street,” she writes, “has been a driving force behind the gutting of antitrust laws.” The purported democratic norms of the tech economy have clouded such predatory business practices in many aspects of life, from the effect of Uber on drivers’ livelihoods, to less obvious but chilling examples—e.g., how poultry monopolies have turned farmers into indentured servants. “Uber successfully sold the idea that, if we wanted to use our phones to get a taxi, we needed to destroy 80 years of anti-monopoly laws,” writes Teachout. Furthermore, the “chickenization” model is creeping into many industries, especially restaurant delivery: “Surveillance and power go hand in hand, each reinforcing the other.” Race and class inform many of these hidden narratives: In one chapter, the author tracks how arbitration has become an alternate justice system serving the ultrawealthy. She also discusses the “body snatcher” effect of corporate super PACs on the political system: “corporate institutions replacing democratic institutions by burrowing inside them and using their language and forms.” Similarly, the journalism industry has been gutted by greedy corporate raiders and their continued search for quarterly profit increases. Regarding the secretive CEOs of social media, Teachout writes, “it is crucial that we understand [Mark] Zuckerberg, and monopolists like him, as seekers of political power, for it is only through political action that they can be tamed.” Wide-ranging, well-organized chapters are full of unsettling tidbits, such as Amazon’s courting of the surveillance state via commercial data-sharing. Finally, the author looks back at the original populist antitrust movement, but she also makes the salient point that “we shouldn’t require people to boycott essential communications infrastructure like Facebook and Google in order to demand that they be broken up.” Teachout confidently wields energetic, urgent prose and stark research, adeptly blending subtopics including law and technology.
Deserves wide attention in our current political landscape.

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020