zuzu on 26 Oct 2007 22:13:18 -0000


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: [PLUG] Free Software

  • From: zuzu <sean.zuzu@gmail.com>
  • To: "Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List" <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>
  • Subject: Re: [PLUG] Free Software
  • Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:13:04 -0400
  • Dkim-signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=+vg7YPG8OrGfun1z3rlpIWHQQJIHiw3EGv6PRyFuXkg=; b=AkJvYB2RLPhwTt+p11wr9glMnrqnXERhwgvqY6gxW0NCAl4BrmDSCp8Ss/8BzAwIYxKq0By5hx3TKlVFlX809hnT1ZI4CvsZNuZNMeBqoz59RYsqjjug18ORLfH7syFaeaYtbag7HEvY3DAp4yh3YNEDIxo+2GhyOvBZI7984/k=
  • Reply-to: Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>
  • Sender: plug-bounces@lists.phillylinux.org

On 10/26/07, Toby DiPasquale <toby@cbcg.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 26, 2007 at 05:22:36PM -0400, Matthew Rosewarne wrote:
> > On Friday 26 October 2007, zuzu wrote:
> > > selling "units" of a mass-produced item is a relic of a manufacturing
> > > economy.  in a knowledge economy, it's selling the _creativity_ of
> > > _people_ that's the scarce/valuable commodity.  instead of buying
> > > "things" we need to focus on buying "people" in the form of creative
> > > labor (vis-a-vis opportunity cost) to invent _new_ features and
> > > functionality.  last I checked, your brain is the only one of its
> > > kind.
> >
> > Most of what we buy, particularly what we _need_ to buy, is the product of the
> > manufacturing economy.  Creative labour isn't really that important if you
> > can't build whatever it is that you're dreaming up.  A major problem for the
> > US is that we have bought into the idea that we no longer need to make
> > anything, and so we are actively dissolving our economic future.  The reason
> > the US rose to be an economic powerhouse in the late 19th century, other than
> > its agricultural prowess, was its immense manufacturing base.  Only in recent
> > history did we essentially abandon manufacturing to become a consumer
> > and "knowledge" economy, which is an entirely unsustainable model.  It's not
> > that we don't need creativity or knowledge, but unless we can actually
> > manufacture things, our chances of continued success are quite slim.
>
> I would caution you, Matt, to perhaps read up on this subject a bit more.
> Your statements indicate a clear lack of understanding of basic economics
> and the US and world economies.

wow, that was way more diplomatic than I was going to reply with. :)

but yeah, lookup how global trade and comparative advantage work, for
starters.  today agriculture and manufacturing is SO EASY (as such a
maturely developed human action) that only relatively poor regions can
do it for a relative profit.

the real question isn't "how do we make lots of stuff?" but rather
"what the hell should we even make?"  real wealth growth in a healthy
capitalist world economy derives from research and development (R&D,
aka creativity / innovation).
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug