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Michael Shermer on The Mind of the Market
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phippsed Avatar
phippsed
Posts: 10
Posted: 02.06.10, 08:43 PM
I read this book and loved it. It is easy to nitpick the examples given if you disagree with the central thesis of the book. If you are going to read a provocative work like this you need to do so with an open mind or it is a waste of time. Shermer is one of my favorites and this may be his best work yet. This is just one of the examples of how people on the left and right make similar argruments with similar fallacies except they do so with completely different issues. For example people on the left understand that making drugs illegal does not get rid of drugs. It simply shifts them to the black market and creates all sorts of other problems. The right is completely clueless on this subject. Conversly people on the right understand that making guns illegal does not get rid of guns. It simply shifts guns to the black market creating a host of new problems. It is always amusing to see people criticize the other said for embracing fallacies that they indulge in on a regular basis. If people read this book they will become more aware of these inconsistencies and we will have a better, more informed electorate.
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atv2 Avatar
atv2
Posts: 0
Posted: 01.05.09, 11:47 PM
Yes. And the analogies are a bit clumsy.
Consider the Ultimatum game with a $90,000/$10,000 split. It's hard to imagine anyone refusing the $10,000, no matter how spiteful they are.
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bapyou Avatar
bapyou
Posts: 89
Posted: 07.28.08, 01:37 AM
Addition:

The first sin Shermer commits here, is the assignation of a dollar value to the possessions of a Yanomama, a supposition from which his entire argument flows!
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bapyou Avatar
bapyou
Posts: 89
Posted: 07.25.08, 01:37 PM
I like Shermer when he's debunking psuedo-science. In this discussion, however, in developing his theory here, he breezes through so much world economic history, ignoring so many possible economic situations/transactions, that I can't take it seriously. It's a very selective consideration of economics.

Stick to the debunking, Michael. You're spreading yourself too thin here.
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J Bower Avatar
J Bower
Posts: 3
Posted: 07.12.08, 09:43 PM
One of the best video I have seen on this site.
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