| | I like Ross Elliot's idea that "The structures that constitute the *sophisticated framework* of the modern market (excepting government regulation) evolved out of the spontaneous order of the market." It conjures up pictures of the evolution of money.
Surely money is a most sophisticated invention -- and one that has evolved indeed, from the clumsy exchanges of cattle for carpets and wheat and iron in the central square, to beautiful coils of silver and copper and gold, to worldwide electronic debit.
Personally, I think that humans are hard-wired for exchange -- evidence from monkeys and primates seems to indicate that 'fair exchange' has been a concern since the beginning for our species, that we inherited an attention to 'price.' Yet the same evidence, when combined with the rich findings from archeology (e.g., agriculture, money) in turn support the idea that advances in human development were propelled by each human inventive advance: written language, arithmetic, king, city, coin, law . . .
Perhaps the crossover points of the disputants here could lie in realizing that science and history give evidence to support most all of the claims raised so far -- depending on where you might place your finger on the timeline of humanity, there is an ancient and then there is the modern.
When did the lurch out of Sam Erica's golden age happen: with domestication of plant and animal, with the first great civilizations, with the first homo habilis protocol for fair trade? has it yet to happen to the Andamanese?
Sam twits Adam Reed for a misread of 'market,' and plays up a useful distinction between a micro-level face-to-face economic exchange (farmers in the market) and the evolved structures that support (and bind) the modern 'market.'
Of course, both readings can be correct in proper context. We could perhaps synthesize the insights provided by both Adam and Rick Pasotto. I agree very much that the magic in the market takes place in myriad small actions that are designed only in the sense that they seem easy, even habitual, 'automated' yet complex. Rick does rightly note the 'price system,' which opens common ground in his and Adam's discussion.
Research into 'self-organizing systems' has revealed some stunning melanges of information and complexity theory, genetics, chaos theory, evolutionary biology -- there are decent findings to support Rick's contentions, yet it should be noted that they also support Adam's. Rick's post would be richer for references to the literature, but I grant his point no problem, in regard to the backbone of small independent actions implementing economic exchange.
How best to balance these sets of observations, then, as Dean Michael Gores seems to ask above?
Here's a current event tale, where the invisible hand of the rural Indian market slips easily into the glove of technology. Cool investment, cool capitalism in action. In this story "Rural Pondicherry's Wireless Internet," at idrc.ca, we learn of a ducks-to-water adhesion to every last modern market tool . . . by the simple peasant farmer, fisherman or village trader. I recommend the article for these gems of human enterprise below (although Objectivists may be unsettled by the evidence of a not-so-invisible hand of collectivism helping out a little bit too . . . and by the creepy Canadian socialist tone to the reporting). With a nod to Sam, I might say we have found "farmers selling their produce in the village square with interoperable interface protocols that enable interactively growing systems to support independent transactions efficiently and reliably." "Fishermen, dairy farmers, and coconut sellers also keep a watch on product prices. Teachers prepare lessons and students do homework. Panchayats, or local councils, do their accounting and correspondence, and gain access to grants for infrastructure such as roads, bus stations, streetlights, and drains. State and federal government representatives put together their reports and use voice lines to consult with superiors about local queries. Job seekers find employment. Older people share traditional medical lore. Many morning users come to centres to read newspapers. Everybody relies on weather reports."
". . . villagers hear weather reports and other information downloaded from the Internet as audio files and played over public address loudspeakers. One fishing village, Veerampattinam, whose small boats ply the Bay of Bengal, plays US Navy wave height forecasts, fishing-related government announcements, market details, employment news, and current fair prices for commodities such as rice, kerosene, and sugar."
WSS
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