on 1/15/02 7:26 AM, Steven Bissell at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Gus, one question. Is Hayek using the term "self organizing" in the Adam
> Smith sense or in the "Autopoesis" sense. The first I'm sort of dubious
> about, the second I tend to reject outright.
>
> Steven
The Adam Smith sense. I can't figure out why you would be dubious. That
unintended order arises from people following procedural rules seems pretty
straightforward. It's the case in markets, science (Polanyi, Ziman),
language (Chomsky) and other fields. The order arises through feedback
generated by the price system, which also minimizes the information a person
needs to navigate effectively within the market order (at the price of
leaving out information that may be important in other contexts). Because
the price system is not controlled by anyone (though influenced by many) the
over all order is not the product of deliberate intent, hence Smith's
analogy to "an invisible hand."
The debates become interesting when we discuss whether this order is always
desirable in every basic respect (libertarians) or whether it has serious
undesirable effects as well (many of the rest of us).
But I think it has been pretty conclusively shown both in theory and,
insofar as it's possible, experience, that such order cannot be duplicated
by rational construction.
Gus
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