>> I'm getting too tired of repeating stuff that an economic journal
>> explains.
>> I'm sorry that you fail to see the truth, but an intelligent journal or
>> book
>> explains these ideas much better than I possible could.  I suggest you
>> read
>> because a culmination of hundreds of years of research by hundreds of
>> thousands of intelligent people are in those journals. You are just one
>> person who doesn't even understand the theories he's trying to refute.


> Tom,
> 
> I hope he doesn't take offense, but I often find Hyman's posts crankish,
> myself. However...
> 
> I hope you realize "hundreds of years" and "hundreds of thousands" is
> hyperbole. It's also argument by authority, that is, not to be taken
> seriously.
> 
> Should Hyman avoid reading the _Journal of Economic Issues_
> (where a community of researchers attempt to build on the work of
> Thorstein Veblen, John R. Commons, Wesley C. Mitchell, John M. Clark,
> Clarenc Ayres, John Kenneth Galbraith, etc.)? Should he study up
> on stone age economics, a subject where some researchers think
> typical societies did not encourage members to always want more?
> Should he read about those experimental economists who have
> apparently falsified some subset of a combination of the axioms of
> utility and probability theory? Should he look at the history of
> utility theory and its origins in Bentham's philosophy, an imitation
> of 19th century physics, and introspection associated with a
> pre-Freudian philosophy in which a person's mind is supposed to
> be transparent to themselves? What should he make of the failure
> of economists to probe the conservation laws taken aboard utility
> theory by imitating 19th century mechanics?
> 
> I'm not an economist. I read a lot. I grew up in Rochester, NY.
> 
> What do you think is causing the low snowfall in Rochester this
> season?


Hi,

To answer your question, I'd love it if he read up on all those things
(including the theories that are generally accepted in today's society).
I'd love it if I had the time to read up on all those misguided theories
and disproved ideas. Personally, I think it would help me understand
economics more. To be able to see what people thought, and then
understand why those thoughts were incorrect. And then to see why the
correct theories have been generally accepted. It would certainly make me
(and hyman, if he did it) more sage in economics. I think it's pretty
clear that nobody can just enter a science without understanding as much
as possible. An alien coming from outerspace would certainly have no idea
how our society operates and how our minds and psychology works. That
alien had sure better start reading up on economics and human desires
before s/he starts dictacting how society works. I won't go into the
natural sciences and claim to have a solution to growing old (I'd make
myself look a little foolish...)

Well, the way I figure it, the more a person reads up on a subject, the
more s/he will understand those ideas (like yourself, for instance).

Now, about the weather. My God! it's cold. Not much snow, but I'm
freezing here. Eh, only another four months of this cold weather
though... :)

Tom