Re: Oh, those gaussians (Was: Twin Studies)

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@mercury.colossus.net)
Thu, 26 Aug 1999 15:50:34 -0700 (PDT)

> This is only true if you're talking about capitalism in a very abstract
> sense. Keep in mind that capitalism as we know it could not exist without
> inventions like intellectual property, contract law, the limited liability
> corporation, etc. I don't see any of these things as more self-evident
> than some socialistic notions - for instance the right of workers to form
> unions and bargain collectively.

Bizarre list. "Contract law" probably belongs there, but I'm inclined to see that as nothing more than a natural mechanism of making and maintaining commitments. Intellectual property and limited liability corporations have nothing at all to do with capitalism--many (including me) consider them both perversions of that ideal, and would love to dispense with them both. Finally, collective bargaining is not a socialist concept at all, but a fine capitalist one, also being nothing but a natural consequence of the right to make and enforce commitments. Sounds like your idea of what capitalism is has been instilled in your brain by a socialist education system :)

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC