See, by way of background, what Russ is talking about: http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/cooperation/index.html Any suggestions? -Declan -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Various stuff Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 16:38:24 -0400 From: Russell Roberts <rrobert2@private> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private> Declan, Good to talk to you as always. I've been thinking recently about what Hayek called spontaneous order which is related to complexity theory—the idea that things can be orderly without conscious planning, the idea that markets coordinate information without a coordinator, the idea that we all free to make our own plans and yet somehow, they mesh in wondrous ways without anyone being in charge of the meshing. The development of the internet and to some extent, the open source phenomenon are examples of these kinds of processes but so is the ability of the economy to provide lots of low-carb products at low prices when people suddenly decide to reduce their carbs. The same process will cure prostate cancer some day if we let it work. Explaining the mystery and beauty of this process and what holds it together is often neglected in economic education simply because it's hard to explain. So I've been thinking about non-standard ways of teaching this stuff--video games and movies that would allow people to absorb these lessons in non-textbook ways. Know any visually creative people who might be interested in such projects? Russ Russell Roberts Professor of Economics J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Distinguished Scholar at the Mercatus Center Department of Economics 4400 University Dr. MSN 3G4 George Mason University Fairfax, VA. 22030 703-993-1186 roberts@private http://www.invisibleheart.com http://www.cafehayek.com Research Fellow Hoover Institution Stanford University Features Editor Library of Economics and Liberty http://www.econlib.org _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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