"Big Data" Isn't Enough to Make Socialism Work
03/16/2018Tho Bishop
When sharing Bob Murphy's excellent article today on the Knowledge-Calculation Debate, one of the most common responses has been "Murphy makes a good case, but why does this really matter?"
Beyond the value of grasping intellectual nuance, I think this debate has actually increased in real world importance over time with the rise of "Big Data."
Increasingly we see entrepreneurs, economists, and other thought leaders discuss the possibility of using improved data collection and algorithms to solve the "knowledge problem" Hayek famously outlined.
Now, of course, these big data central planners still suffer from their own fatal conceit, as brilliantly discussed in this article by Per Bylund. Still though, laissez-faire skeptics are able to use Hayek's knowledge critique of socialism as a way of justifying their new tech-backed schemes.
The same can't be said for the Misesian critique of socialism grounded in economic calculation, as Xiong Yue noted last year:
[T]hose who consider the problem of socialism as merely a problem of information failed to understand that the core problem of socialism lies in the absence of prices in a centrally-planned economy. The role of prices in the market economy is unique because money prices offer an indispensable tool in economic calculation. As Mises writes in Human Action,
One cannot add up values or valuations. One can add up prices expressed in terms of money, but not scales of preference.
https://mises.org/power-market/big-data-isnt-enough-make-socialism-work
uh two things.
Project cybersyn proved that there was enough "big data"in the 70s.
Socialism is not based on centralisation, so big data is not required.
each company must centrally plan. They do not use the free market to distribute resources within themselves, they do it based on need and subjective calculations and goals.
The ones that try to use the delusional "free-market" methods end up failing hard lmao.
https://www.salon.com/2013/12/10/ayn_rand_loving_ceo_destroys_his_empire_partner/
Heck those with "free-market" thought will eventually capitulate towards a Chicagoan-school dictatorship like Pinochet's Chile.
Im neither embracing the chicagoan-School nor dictators like Pinochet
yes but they dont use force like the state to sell their products, thats the main difference and when companies got too large they tend to be blinded by their former success and bureaucratization and thus inefficiency in terms of providing goods and services to people.
The state at the other hand has no such restrictions, because their income isnt based on fullfilling the needs of its slaves. Its plane coersion, violence and opression.
And it would be naive to assume there is enough data. When the state has super computers, sooner or later everybody will. Its an arms race for information.
"And it would be naive to assume there is enough data. When the state has super computers, sooner or later everybody will. Its an arms race for information."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn
we have real world examples, are you stupid?
Yeah true
i will look at it, i didnt know about that. Shouldnt you not convince me by being civil and objective ? Instead you call me stupid because you rely on technology which is being developed by the same thing you are condeming.
lets see what kind of fancy schmancy stuff youre reffering to
lets assume there is a supercomputer which can measure every aspect of all of our lives, all of our desires and preferences (which are constantly changing) etc.
Whats about the issue of power?
Who is the manager of this machine, who will maintain it and most important, who is restraining thos people in charge ?
also, its not communism if it has a state btw
but communist use the state in order to reach their goals.
Kinda hypocritical in my opinion
incorrect
explain me why its not correct
did you read the article at all ?
"The state at the other hand has no such restrictions, because their income isnt based on fullfilling the needs of its slaves. Its plane coersion, violence and opression."
ah yes, thats why communism is the biggest killer in history.....
oh no wait, thats capitalism
typical conflation between state and the market
actually what really happens when they get too big is they are unable to accumulate more capital and have resources they must waste
then newcomers which are more efficient come into stage and are filling the place. Its funny that your are on this site because it has been created by Ancaps which you condem as well.
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