> It is indeed tempting to suppose that, in the philosophical > perspective, the object of human economies is to produce entropy! > > STAN
Yes: because the economy is equilibrating. Innovations upset the tendency towards equilibrium (Schumpeter) and thus induce cycles into the economy. This is the very subject of evolutionary economics. Marx's problem was that the cycles cannot be stopped and have a tendency to become self-reinforcing. However, the modern state adds the institutional mechanism as another subdynamics. I am sometimes using the metaphor of a triple helix among these three difference subsystems of communication and control: economic equilibration, institutional regulation, and innovation. A triple helix unlike a double one cannot be expected to stabilize (in a coevolution), but remains meta-stable with possible globalization. I suppose that this has happened. With best wishes, Loet _______________________________________________ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es http://webmail.unizar.es/mailman/listinfo/fis