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|title=Economic Thinking In A Fallible World
|title=Is Technology Killing Capitalism?
|image=
|image=[[File:Is Technology Killing Capitalism Cover.jpg]]
|host=Marshall Auerback
|host=[https://twitter.com/PiaMalaney Pia Malaney]
|guests=[[Eric Weinstein]]
|guests=[[Eric Weinstein]]
|length=00:16:42
|length=00:18:03
|releasedate=22 June 2014
|releasedate=17 August 2016
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|link1title=YouTube
|link1title=YouTube
|link1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrZmq1Ti3Po Watch]
|link1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYsy6qbKp3Y Watch]
|link2title=Portal Blog
|link2title=Portal Blog
|link2=[https://theportal.group/eric-weinstein-economic-thinking-in-a-fallible-world/ Read]
|link2=[https://theportal.group/is-technology-killing-capitalism/ Read]
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|prev=The Economics of Radical Uncertainty (YouTube Content)
|prev=Eric Weinstein Interview Full Episode (YouTube Content)
|next=Palo Alto Prize - Eric Weinstein (YouTube Content)
|next=Let’s be Honest About Mathematics (YouTube Content)
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'''Is Technology Killing Capitalism?''' was an interview with [[Eric Weinstein]] by [https://twitter.com/PiaMalaney Pia Malaney] of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.


{{Stub}}
{{#widget:YouTube|id=SYsy6qbKp3Y}}
 
'''Economic Thinking In A Fallible World''' was an interview with [[Eric Weinstein]] by Marshall Auerback of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.
 
{{#widget:YouTube|id=TrZmq1Ti3Po}}


== Description ==
== Description ==
By Marshall Auerback
Is Market Capitalism simply an accident of certain factors that came together in the 19th and 20th centuries? Does the innovation of economics require a new economics of innovation? Is the study of economics deeply affected by the incentive structures faced by economists themselves, necessitating a study of the “economics of economics”? In this broad ranging interview INET Senior Economist Pia Malaney sits down with Eric Weinstein - mathematician, economist, Managing Director of Thiel Capital (as well as her co-author and husband) to discuss these and other issues.
 
The philosopher Karl Popper argued that we cannot know empirical truths with absolute certainty.
 
According to Popper, even scientific laws can't be verified beyond a shadow of a doubt. They can only be falsified by testing. One failed test is enough to falsify, but no amount of conforming instances are sufficient to verify. Scientific laws are hypothetical in character and their truth remains subject to testing. Ideologies that claim to be in possession of the ultimate truth are making a false claim; therefore, they can be imposed on society only by force. 
 
This concept creates particular challenges for economists, who like to think of themselves as "scientists" subject to the disciplines of rigorous empirical truths. But economics and economic policy don't work that way because empirical economic truths typically are open to interpretation.  


The reality is far more complicated. In situations with thinking participants, the participants' view of the world is always partial and distorted. So our view of the world by necessity is fallible and incomplete. In addition, these distorted views can influence the situation to which they relate because false views lead to inappropriate actions, as we've seen in many different spheres, such as policy making, central banking practices, and investment decisions.
Underlying the seismic shifts in the economy in the last ten years, Dr. Weinstein sees not just a temporary recession brought on by a housing crisis, but rather deep and fundamental shifts in the very factors that made market capitalism the driving force of economic growth for the past two centuries. The most profound of these shifts as Dr. Weinstein sees it, is an end to 20th century style capitalism brought about not by a competing ideology, as many had once feared, but instead by changing technology.  As production is driven increasingly by bits rather than atoms, he sees the importance of private goods give way to public goods, undermining a basic requirement of market models. In a different line of thinking, as software becomes increasingly sophisticated it takes on the ability to replace humans not only in low level repetitive tasks but also, with the use of deep learning algorithms, in arbitrarily complex repetitive tasks such as medical diagnosis. He sees other technological changes such as the development of crypto-currencies changing the very basics of a macro economic system currently controlled by central banks.  Such developments have to potential to de facto shift economic decision making away from centralized government control in a manner that is as yet unpredictable.


Eric Weinstein of Thiel Capital, a mathematician, physicist, and economist, explains these issues and their potential consequences in the interview.
Dr. Weinstein also explores the political economy of economics itself, discussing the notion of “economics squared” and the role of rent seeking within the field.  Are academic macro-economists truly in a position to advise government agencies given their own track records? Is it time to turn the same lens on economists that they have so effectively used to analyze other labor markets? With the sharp eye of outsider and the familiarity of an researcher within the field, Dr. Weinstein provides the kind of unflinching critique economists are more used to serving up than receiving.


== Transcript ==
== Transcript ==
{{no transcript blurb}}
{{no transcript blurb}}
{{Stub}}


[[Category:Eric Weinstein Content]]
[[Category:Eric Weinstein Content]]

Latest revision as of 22:28, 14 May 2023

Is Technology Killing Capitalism?
Is Technology Killing Capitalism Cover.jpg
Information
Host(s) Pia Malaney
Guest(s) Eric Weinstein
Length 00:18:03
Release Date 17 August 2016
Links
YouTube Watch
Portal Blog Read
All Appearances

Is Technology Killing Capitalism? was an interview with Eric Weinstein by Pia Malaney of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Description[edit]

Is Market Capitalism simply an accident of certain factors that came together in the 19th and 20th centuries? Does the innovation of economics require a new economics of innovation? Is the study of economics deeply affected by the incentive structures faced by economists themselves, necessitating a study of the “economics of economics”? In this broad ranging interview INET Senior Economist Pia Malaney sits down with Eric Weinstein - mathematician, economist, Managing Director of Thiel Capital (as well as her co-author and husband) to discuss these and other issues.

Underlying the seismic shifts in the economy in the last ten years, Dr. Weinstein sees not just a temporary recession brought on by a housing crisis, but rather deep and fundamental shifts in the very factors that made market capitalism the driving force of economic growth for the past two centuries. The most profound of these shifts as Dr. Weinstein sees it, is an end to 20th century style capitalism brought about not by a competing ideology, as many had once feared, but instead by changing technology. As production is driven increasingly by bits rather than atoms, he sees the importance of private goods give way to public goods, undermining a basic requirement of market models. In a different line of thinking, as software becomes increasingly sophisticated it takes on the ability to replace humans not only in low level repetitive tasks but also, with the use of deep learning algorithms, in arbitrarily complex repetitive tasks such as medical diagnosis. He sees other technological changes such as the development of crypto-currencies changing the very basics of a macro economic system currently controlled by central banks. Such developments have to potential to de facto shift economic decision making away from centralized government control in a manner that is as yet unpredictable.

Dr. Weinstein also explores the political economy of economics itself, discussing the notion of “economics squared” and the role of rent seeking within the field. Are academic macro-economists truly in a position to advise government agencies given their own track records? Is it time to turn the same lens on economists that they have so effectively used to analyze other labor markets? With the sharp eye of outsider and the familiarity of an researcher within the field, Dr. Weinstein provides the kind of unflinching critique economists are more used to serving up than receiving.

Transcript[edit]

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