Comments on: GOSPLAN emergent? http://futurismic.com/2008/12/08/gosplan-emergent/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:03:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dave http://futurismic.com/2008/12/08/gosplan-emergent/comment-page-1/#comment-17223 Dave Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:43:54 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=5107#comment-17223 The idea of perfect simulation of preferences is very interesting. I can't quite wrap my head around it, but I welcome the invitation to read and think about it a little more. Thanks. The idea of perfect simulation of preferences is very interesting. I can’t quite wrap my head around it, but I welcome the invitation to read and think about it a little more. Thanks.

]]> By: Tom James http://futurismic.com/2008/12/08/gosplan-emergent/comment-page-1/#comment-17220 Tom James Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:19:23 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=5107#comment-17220 Thanks for that Dave. Re Charles Stross, "economics 2.0" is part ftl vapourware, as you say, but Stross suggests elsewhere that it is what happens when you are faced with an entity that has so much processing power that it can simulate you and your entire world. The prospective entity will be able to predict your every move and act accoringly. With such colossal information asymmetry between baseline human beings and these hypothetical posthumans how will they interact? Also how would such entities solve their own economic problems? "Economics 2.0" is kind of a placeholder for the answer to that question. See "H+ Magazine" <a href="http://www.hplusmagazine.com/" rel="nofollow">here</a> for the relevant interview (and a slightly more coherent description) with Stross. Thanks for that Dave.

Re Charles Stross, “economics 2.0″ is part ftl vapourware, as you say, but Stross suggests elsewhere that it is what happens when you are faced with an entity that has so much processing power that it can simulate you and your entire world.

The prospective entity will be able to predict your every move and act accoringly. With such colossal information asymmetry between baseline human beings and these hypothetical posthumans how will they interact?

Also how would such entities solve their own economic problems?

“Economics 2.0″ is kind of a placeholder for the answer to that question.

See “H+ Magazine” here for the relevant interview (and a slightly more coherent description) with Stross.

]]> By: Dave http://futurismic.com/2008/12/08/gosplan-emergent/comment-page-1/#comment-17218 Dave Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:40:00 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=5107#comment-17218 The notion that firms are (usually) command economies is very old in the economics profession. The observation is made and analyzed by Nobelist Ronald Coase in his famous 1937 paper, The Nature of the Firm, which forms a kind of duology with his famous 1960 paper, The Problem of Social Cost. So, small pockets of the economy should be run as command economies. Some of these will grow in size as technology progresses (some will shrink). It does not follow that the whole economy should be run as a command economy, or even that it should be more like a command economy. In SF, Stross's <em>Accelerando</em> includes the idea that computing will discover a kind of command economy ("Economics 2.0" I think it's called) that is more efficient than the market, but this is never explained in any detail. I think of it as a kind of FTL-like vaporware. The notion that firms are (usually) command economies is very old in the economics profession. The observation is made and analyzed by Nobelist Ronald Coase in his famous 1937 paper, The Nature of the Firm, which forms a kind of duology with his famous 1960 paper, The Problem of Social Cost. So, small pockets of the economy should be run as command economies. Some of these will grow in size as technology progresses (some will shrink). It does not follow that the whole economy should be run as a command economy, or even that it should be more like a command economy.

In SF, Stross’s Accelerando includes the idea that computing will discover a kind of command economy (“Economics 2.0″ I think it’s called) that is more efficient than the market, but this is never explained in any detail. I think of it as a kind of FTL-like vaporware.

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