Finally, I object to your characterization of the belief that we can improve on the normal workings of the economy as “delusional.” Certainly, there are some extreme examples of top-down social planning that have failed catastrophically, but reversed stupidity is not intelligence, and I have not seen any evidence that the economic solutions that have been evolved by small groups over long periods of time are always or even usually better than those that are developed by modern experts over short periods of time. I will understand if you don’t want to debate this issue on Less Wrong; it seems political enough to be a mind-killer. However, “delusions” seems to me to be a strong word, which should not be used lightly.
The examples exist throughout human history under regimes of every sort and with every ideology along the spectrum from fascist to communist to theocracies, and has a trivial evopsych justification; I don’t think the case is any less good for it being a delusion than any of the other cognitive biases or supernatural beliefs we dismiss.
There are also countless examples of “top-down social planning” that leaded to huge success—from sending men to the moon to eradicating smallpox to building the TGV (French high-speed train) network to eradicating illiteracy in some countries. We can argue for long if those results could have been achieved otherwise, or if they had more drawbacks than they are worth, … that would mean entering in a full-scale political discussion, which is not the purpose of Less Wrong. But calling it a “delusion” with a sleight of the hand like you do really looks like you’re victim of mind-killing on that issue. Rational political debate shouldn’t appear so blatantly one-sided.
There appears to be a definitional disconnect here. Although the Apollo program was top-down in many ways, it wasn’t what I would call social planning.
The examples exist throughout human history under regimes of every sort and with every ideology along the spectrum from fascist to communist to theocracies, and has a trivial evopsych justification; I don’t think the case is any less good for it being a delusion than any of the other cognitive biases or supernatural beliefs we dismiss.
There are also countless examples of “top-down social planning” that leaded to huge success—from sending men to the moon to eradicating smallpox to building the TGV (French high-speed train) network to eradicating illiteracy in some countries. We can argue for long if those results could have been achieved otherwise, or if they had more drawbacks than they are worth, … that would mean entering in a full-scale political discussion, which is not the purpose of Less Wrong. But calling it a “delusion” with a sleight of the hand like you do really looks like you’re victim of mind-killing on that issue. Rational political debate shouldn’t appear so blatantly one-sided.
There appears to be a definitional disconnect here. Although the Apollo program was top-down in many ways, it wasn’t what I would call social planning.