tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post2396385074478069706..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: The Ideological Fraud of Adam Smith, beginning with the pin factory.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-90060070166144805662014-06-23T05:49:31.184-04:002014-06-23T05:49:31.184-04:00«bulldozer [ ... ] is just a big shovel. But it is...«bulldozer [ ... ] is just a big shovel. But it is attached to an engine»<br /><br />BTW there is an extremely important detail: it is a *self-propelled* shovel. This is the really really big deal, the foundation of modern society.<br /><br />It is not just that a machine can do the work of dozens of men thanks to a huge power source, but that it can be *self-propelled*: that power source has a high enough energy density that i tis internal that is the machine can move about carrying it (the petrol tank), just like a man or an animal.<br /><br />Because there is a great deal of difference in usefulness between machines that need an external power source and machines that can carry their own internal power source.<br /><br />«that can supply the power of thousands of men.»<br /><br />Also these machines are extremely inefficient: a bulldozer runs on a power supply equivalent to thousands of men, but can only do the work of dozens of men; in other words it has a much lower productivity than men in terms of energy per work done.<br /><br />«two radically different aspects of "technological progress". [ ... ] extracting and consuming energy sources to produce power for machines that can «do the work of many» men. depleting the natural "fertility" of land»<br /><br />Because using a self-propelled shovel powered by oil (bulldozer) is not "technological progress": it is asset stripping, running down capital instead of producing increased output, eating the seed corn.<br /><br />When a bulldozer driven by a single man can do the work of dozens of men thanks to a power supply equivalent to thousands of men created by literally burning down capital that's not technological progress.<br /><br />It is just an illusion given by artfully deceptive accounting.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-88066173167900706382014-06-23T04:09:56.079-04:002014-06-23T04:09:56.079-04:00«Smith did mention in passing “the invention of a ...«Smith did mention in passing “the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many”»<br /><br />As to this, in a single phrase it addresses two radically different aspects of "technological progress".<br /><br />«facilitate and abridge» is genuine technical progress, of the same type as the division of labor and other organizational improvements.<br /><br />But «enable one man to do the work of many» mostly depends on the availability of power greater than a man can supply. A bulldozer is not something that can be regarded as «facilitate and abridge» a man's work: it is just a big shovel. But it is attached to an engine that can supply the power of thousands of men.<br /><br />The age of coal and then the age of of very cheap oil have provided a relatively minor degree of «facilitate and abridge» work, and a massive one of extracting and consuming energy sources to produce power for machines that can «do the work of many» men.<br /><br />Adam Smith probably could have recognized that as depleting the natural "fertility" of land as he wrote before neoclassicists ensured that such concerns were carefully obfuscated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-88388124180032417082014-06-20T14:53:40.813-04:002014-06-20T14:53:40.813-04:00Is there a world where you can call Adam Smith a &...Is there a world where you can call Adam Smith a "libertarian economist" and not get heckled off the stage?Thornton Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11402495641975262697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-76626693674174671282014-06-20T11:37:57.970-04:002014-06-20T11:37:57.970-04:00Hi Michael... here is Gavin Kennedy's response...Hi Michael... here is Gavin Kennedy's response...<br /><br />http://adamsmithslostlegacy.blogspot.com/Dan Crawford https://www.blogger.com/profile/04177057507788121432noreply@blogger.com