Welcome back, you all. I am happy to see you all again here in the room. We have to start up the intellectual engine again after a well-deserved vacation.
When I told my AI-roommate that I would do a project on the history of economic thought, I asked her where I should begin. Her answer was predictable.
She told me that modern economic thought is generally considered to have begun with the publication of Adam Smith’s "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" in 1776.
An understandable response, but it left me with so many questions, which are not answered by Adam Smith, so I pushed on and she admitted that Aristotle already discussed economic issues.
Just among us...it is already amazing that you can have such an in-depth conversation with a computer, which appears to be much better informed than myself. Ok...it is 2025, AI time....
The financial world of today is so different from how it all began. How did we get from there to where we are now? To be honest, in a way, it is almost scary.
I told my son about the new project on the History of Economic Thought. He has a job in the banking world, so he knows a lot more than I do.
He is some top something in the banking system, the thinking part of it. At the moment, he is working on a report in which he explains
what the bank has to do when there is a financial crisis and the bank is at the brink of collapsing. I'll save you the details, but what he told me about the system... to me it almost felt as scary stuff....sooooooo complex.
But slow down...no worries. Historically, we are not at that level. We decently start with the basic questions and link them to historical facts.
Oh...that was funny. I asked my AI-roommate who on earth invented the idea of money, metal objects representing value? She knew, I didn't.
And then, philosophically, we have a number of basic questions that relate to economic thought. For instance, the concept of value. How do you create value?
Or property, when it becomes an object your private property. Or the earth nobody has owned this planet, and yet we claim parts of this earth as our private property.
Just imagine the indigenous people of North America. All of a sudden, there lands a bunch of immigrants on their shores, and they start claiming the land of those people as their property.
Tons of questions and issues to deal with. So, fasten seatbelts, here we go: The History of Economic Thought......
Thank you for your attention. The floor is yours..
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
26 - The Bonobo and the Atheist 9 Jan 2024 / 1102
27 - Artificial Intelligence 9 Feb 2024 / 1108
28 - Why Am I Here 6 Sept 2024 / 1139
The Discussion
[13:23] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ha
[13:23] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): thought you were going to tell us
[13:23] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): lol me too
[13:23] herman Bergson: what?
[13:24] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): at least one of the ton of issues
[13:24] herman Bergson: I created a perfect cliffhanger.... :-)))
[13:24] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): one
[13:24] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): fasten seatbelts, here we go:
[13:24] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): right
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:24] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): I knew Aristotle would be in on it first
[13:24] herman Bergson smiles
[13:25] herman Bergson: That guy is everywhere :-)
[13:25] herman Bergson: And I can tell you...
[13:25] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yep
[13:25] herman Bergson: I am reading his original texts atm...it is amazing....
[13:26] herman Bergson: more than 2000 years ago....and then such an analytic and clear interpretation of things....
[13:26] herman Bergson: as if it were written today
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): one thing is also what are things really worth, Like when i bought my apartment, i got it for 450000 SeK and it is now way over a million. They also have built new houses and the smallest apartment the sice of a cleaning closet is over 1.6 million SeK
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i need to be filthy rich to live anywhere in the world in general now
[13:27] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): not going to get cheaper
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the reason is as always greed
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the rich one cashing in at the cost of the rest of us
[13:28] herman Bergson: Bejiita....we'll get there...my own house has doubled in value within 10 years....
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:28] herman Bergson: When I die, I'll have a lot of happy family waving goodbye :-)
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate) GIGGLES!!
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ...LOL...
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): oh no
[13:29] herman Bergson: lol
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well..
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): it is what it is
[13:30] herman Bergson: To stay in tune....with this project we hit on a goldmine....
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but the main problem is that things get more and more expensive but the only people who get increased wages to afford it are the CEOs
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): not the rest of us
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the cliff is increasing more and more
[13:31] herman Bergson: and in the background I have a highly qualified and for others expensive consultant :-))
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): rich vs poor
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): oki
[13:32] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): your wealth is in stones, you can't eat from it
[13:33] herman Bergson: not really true Beertje...could take a second mortgage/hypotheek...in cash...
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes, but still
[13:33] herman Bergson: still what?
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): still is your wealth in stones
[13:34] herman Bergson: I could cash a 100.000 euros that way for instance
[13:34] herman Bergson: and spend it the way I'd like
[13:35] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): ok
[13:35] herman Bergson: But I don't need to :-))
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): he grows food anyway
[13:35] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): grows food?
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): garden
[13:36] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): he has a garden
[13:36] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes
[13:36] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): thats great
[13:36] herman Bergson: only grass Gemma and I am not cow...so.... :-)))
[13:36] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): oh i thought you had vegetables
[13:36] herman Bergson: only at the supermarket :-)
[13:36] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ha
[13:36] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont)I have a garden too, cherries, berries, tomatoes, all kinds of herbs
[13:36] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ok
[13:36] herman Bergson: They grow them there for me
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yum
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): what were those little animals doing .. in the garden
[13:37] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): hedshogs
[13:37] herman Bergson: hedgehogs....
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): I thought getting veggies for lunch
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate) GIGGLES!!
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ...LOL...
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yes
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaa yes your hedgehogs ㋡
[13:37] herman Bergson: staying for the winter there
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): nice
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaa
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): still there ?
[13:38] herman Bergson: no no... unfortunately....he went after the women....
[13:38] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate) GIGGLES!!
[13:38] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ...LOL...
[13:38] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): very carefully...lol
[13:38] herman Bergson: Maybe he'll be back in October or November
[13:38] herman Bergson: yes Beertje...:-))
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:39] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes they do it very carefully:)))
[13:39] herman Bergson: and snails do it very slowly :-)
[13:39] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): hahhaha
[13:40] herman Bergson: Well...this was a good start...
[13:40] herman Bergson: Thank you all again...
[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ys
[13:40] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ty
[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:40] herman Bergson: Class dismissed....
[13:40] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): rich people in the house
[13:41] herman Bergson: what do you mean Beertje?
[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): see how i can attend now, This TURF competition starts now on sunday and for the entire month, if i maybe have to more or less live on my bike
[13:41] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): all our houses doubled in value
[13:41] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ohoh
[13:41] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): again
[13:41] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): good luck
[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): need to keep my region (Västmanland) on top
[13:41] herman Bergson: yes indeed
[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:42] herman Bergson: This ado about value will become one of our issues, I think
[13:42] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): i am sure
[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:42] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): very sure
[13:42] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): I shall go cook
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaah
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): oki
[13:43] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): hope i make it Tuesday
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:43] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): bye for now
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): cu then if i have time
[13:43] herman Bergson: You are in good health Gemma...so ...keep it up :-)
[13:43] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): bye Gemmma
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