I’ve recently come think that any reform is bound to fail unless it accounts for humans behaving like humans, i.e. dishonest, theiving, cruel, kind, generous, brilliant monkeys with guns and money.

Wait, wait, that does sound silly. How on Earth do you keep a politician honest?

Don’t get too hung up on these things—I know a guy who got so disturbed by it, that he went out and bought a new dog—not a wise thing at his age.

To ensure your sanity I will pLay for you.

You should check out P.J. O’Rourke’s ‘On The Wealth of Nations’, where he summarizes and analyzes the 1776 work by Adam Smith. It’s the best example I know of a great writer making economics funny and understandable.

-Patrick

Second – it looks as if GOD believes in Ayn Rand, even if she doesn’t believe in him.

Third – this is a really intriguing connection you’ve made. Perhaps the law of diminishing returns applies to pinball scoring and economics as well as just about every other darn thing in the universe. We use schtuff, whatever that might be, to fill us and need ever more to satisfy the cravings. More points. More money. Inflation right now is still relatively low. But our idea of what “a lot” of money is has changed drastically.

So, Austrian. It will certainly be an interesting next few years (and I think we would go pretty much the same route regardless of election results). I look forward with queasy anticipation to watching the descent of another republic from my ring-side seat. And I look forward to your commentary on it.

I really enjoyed the idea of people as both pinballs bouncing ’round and being scored by arbitrary, hidden and increasingly byzantine mechanisms, but that’s not really the point that your trying to make.
I particularly enjoyed the use of the pinball scoring sounds and their likeness to the sounds of poker machines, hence a reference to money, chance, luck and ultimately the game being fixed. Again not what your going for, but very popular themes.

I don’t know how you would go about adapting it for the style of a magazine. I would be nice if you told us who would be your audience – besides the gate keeping magazine editors of course.

And as long as your going to indulge my god complex I told Atlas that your of the Austrian school, he shrugged.

Patrick is an Austrian.

I posted this with a little bit of reluctance. I feel that there is something more to be done with the pinball analogy. I’m trying to figure out what kind of article it could make for a magazine submission. Maybe just on the idea of scores in pinball/video games. What do you think?

I would have called John Maynard Keynes almost the very defintion of a great popularist.

Great podcast though, I like the pinball analogy.