From: "Greg Burch" <gregburch@gregburch.net>
> JR, you really shouldn't dismiss so lightly (without reading it) a very
> short, well-written book that has been blowing good minds away with the
> simplicity and power of its analysis and solid empirical work.
If de Soto's book can help to bring about economic prosperity in formerly
communist countries, I'm all for it. Who wouldn't be. The first impression I
got from list messages about it was that it was a disguised defence of
theoretical ideology of some bizarre breed. Thanks for setting me straight on
that account. Sounds like a practical tome after all.
> It's a very good theoretical and factual counterpart of Richard Pipes'
"Property
> and Freedom" that I mentioned here some time ago and also belongs on the
> same bookshelf as Fukuyama and Postrel. I highly recommend it to you.
OK, I'll check it out if I ever get the chance. Right now I'm preoccupied with
how AI affects capitalist countries (and the world), and whether Homo sapiens
will allow AI to evolve and surpass humans.
Stay hungry,
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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