Lesson 3: "Free"?

 

Last time we looked at the totally false assumption of "perfect information." Today's first bogus assumption is that Alice and Bob both enter into this transaction freely and willingly. That’s actually hard to define. If Bob’s crop fails and he’s starving, is Bob really free to take or leave Alice’s chicken? You might argue that even if Bob gives Alice everything he possesses, and binds himself to her in servitude for life, he’s still better off because at least he isn’t dead. That may be so, but obviously this isn’t a world Bob wants to live in.

At the very least, to protect Bob in this situation, there have to be a lot of people selling food, they have to be competing with each other and not colluding to hold up the price, and Bob has to know what each of them has on offer at what price, and be able to choose among them. That way he’ll get the best possible deal. If Alice controlled all of the food in town, she’d be the dictator, and you could hardly getting away with calling that a Free Market. But that’s actually the case if Alice has a patent and exclusive marketing rights to a medication Bob needs to survive – a situation that exists for may people in the U.S. today. 

 Next time, we'll get to the basic stuff of economics, money. As we await the post, keep in mind, indeed deeply ponder, that money does not exist in nature. It is a human invention. What is it exactly?

 

Economics 101: Second lesson

 

Apart from a few ideologues – and they do exist – most economists today understand that the so-called "Free Market" cannot be left entirely to its own devices. (Actually there is no such thing as a "Free Market," but we'll get to that. ) The textbook will acknowledge that in certain special situations, there can be “market failures” that require some patching up. But these are usually presented as exceptions. Because Economics 101 gets around to reality as an afterthought, the fantasyland has gotten stuck in the minds of many people, including politicians, the journalists who write down what politicians say and repeat it back to us as conventional wisdom, rich people who really like to hear it, and a large segment of the public who are exposed to the idea, as at least a good approximation of reality. Politicians are fond of saying “It’s economics 101!” It might be, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.

Let us return briefly to the lonesome world of Alice and Bob. For the transaction to truly benefit both of them, it should be obvious that they both have to know exactly what they are getting – that’s called the assumption of perfect information. If Alice’s chickens turn out to be diseased and inedible, Bob is not happier after all. Asymmetric information is common throughout the economy– generally, sellers know more about the product than buyers – but it’s obviously an inherent feature of Medicine, which is my specialty as a social scientist. After all, the product for sale is expertise. But it pertains to at least some degree in most situations.

 

 Next bogus assumption: Willing sellers, willing buyers.

Finally: Economics 101

I expect that many economists who might happen to read what follows would say that I present a caricature of the discipline. That may be so, or partly so, but unfortunately it’s a caricature that many people, including many influential people, think is reality. It strongly influences journalism, our political discourse, our jurisprudence, and our public policy, so it needs debunking. In fact, I took two introductory economics courses (it's a bit of a long story, but it was the easiest way to get the needed credit) and this is in fact how it was taught to me. The instructor and the textbook laid out a series of assumptions, none of which actually pertain to reality, and then went on to forget that the assumptions were not true, logically deduced what the world would be like, and then pretended that fantasy is the real world. In other words, economics is more like theology than science.

A typical way to begin is by imagining cartoon worlds in which there are only two people with goods to exchange, or only two products for sale. In the imaginary world of only two people, let’s say Alice and Bob, Alice raises chickens and Bob grows corn. So if they exchange chickens and corn, they’ll both end up feeling better off. That’s called a transaction, and so it would seem to follow that whenever a transaction happens, the world is a better place because now both parties are happier. Obviously, if some busybody comes along and stops Alice and Bob from doing all the trading they want to do, they won’t be as happy as they could be.

The endeavor from this point on is to inflate this into a claim about the real world of many people, many corporations, and innumerable products. A first order conclusion, without looking too deeply, would be that the way to the happiest possible world is to let everybody do whatever trading they want, of anything, with anybody. The posited “free market” economy, if left to its own devices, will turn out maximum prosperity, efficiency and utility -- a jargon word we’ll get to -- for all. Government just needs to leave it alone – an idea called laissez faire – French for “let do” – a phrase popularized in the 19th Century. 

This conclusion was a central premise of liberalism as the term was used back then, although liberalism doesn’t have quite the same meaning today. Nineteenth Century liberalism was more like what we today call libertarianism (although without the accompanying emphasis on social freedoms), and was partially resurrected as neoliberalism in the 1980s. The changing meaning of the word “liberal” creates much confusion.

 

Now that we are, I hope, off to a good start, we'll take this up again tomorrow. 

 

 

  

Wednesday Bible Study: Be a fool for Jesus

Chapter two of Corinthians is a total self-own, for those of us looking at Christianity from the outside with the benefit of rationality. Essentially, Paul instructs Christians not to think for themselves, not to be rational, and not to be wise. In order to believe, you need to be stupid and irrational. I agree with that 100%.

 

2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^{[a] 2} For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”^[b]—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^{[c] 14} The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”^[d]

But we have the mind of Christ.

1. 1 Corinthians 2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God’s mystery
2. 1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:4
3. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual
4. 1 Corinthians 2:16 Isaiah 40:13

 

Sunday Sermonette: Daddy gives a dope slap

The epistle called First Corinthians is generally believed to have been written by Paul, probably around 57 CE, although the oldest surviving manuscripts date to around 200, and the current version is believed to include later interpolations by unknown people. It is not clear whether Sosthenes who is introduced in Verse 1 is a co-author, but as he is not mentioned or credited anywhere else in the canon he is most likely a scribe. Since there is evidence that Paul used scribes in both Acts and Romans, I find that highly plausible.

 

The occasion for this letter appears to be that there were disputes and potential schism in the Christian community in Corinth, as well as some sinful behavior, so this is a letter of reproof. In that respect, it reinforces what became the tradition of papal doctrinal authority in the church. Paul is going to tell them what to think and to do, and by God they'll do it. Note that in verse 18 et seq he decries wisdom -- in other words, don't think for yourselves. God favors foolish people who can be told what to think. That about sums it up.

 

Although there isn't a whole lot of substance to the first chapter I will point out that in verses 6 through 8 he again affirms that the day of judgement is near at hand. Like I always say, 2,000 years later we're still waiting.  

 

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

⁴ I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— ⁶ God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Church Divided Over Leaders

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,^[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. ¹¹ My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas^[b]”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
    the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”^[c]

²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”^[d]

1. 1 Corinthians 1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in verses 11 and 26; and in 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 6:8; 7:24, 29; 10:1; 11:33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26, 39; 15:1, 6, 50, 58; 16:15, 20.
2. 1 Corinthians 1:12 That is, Peter
3. 1 Corinthians 1:19 Isaiah 29:14
4. 1 Corinthians 1:31 Jer. 9:24

 

More on misbelief

Continuing our series, one obvious reason why people believe shit that just isn't true is that false belief can have value, or at least seem to have value in the short run. Given that people have no hope of understanding the evidence for many scientific conclusions, they often rely on criteria other than what the philosophers call justified belief. Furthermore, people with a lot of money and power often have a financial and/or political interest in bamboozling people. 

 

The latter is why we've had fake controversies, often lasting for decades, over whether tobacco causes cancer and heart disease, or lead in the environment was poisoning children, or CO2 emissions are causing potentially catastrophic climate change. Rich and powerful people didn't want us to believe it. That means, of course, that they are profoundly evil. There's plenty of evidence  that leaders of the tobacco, lead and fossil fuel industries knew the truth but they were happy to commit mass murder for money. Of course, they kept their ill gotten gains and paid no price for their abominable crimes. It's okay, they're Christians, they're forgiven.

 

But ordinary folks often succumb to misbelief even when there isn't a multi-billion dollar industry behind it. The case of religion is somewhat separate. Of course many pastors are wealthy charlatans and the Catholic church possesses immense wealth, but religion has ancient cultural roots and people are indoctrinated into it as children. So it has a multi-generational momentum that isn't characteristics of most false beliefs. However, religious rejection of certain scientific conclusions, notably evolution and cosmology, no doubt does contribute to some people doubting science as an overall enterprise.

 

But people also hold beliefs because they are comforting in some way, or make them feel better than confronting the truth. They also may have been indoctrinated in certain non-religious beliefs that conflict with scientific conclusions, e.g. laissez faire capitalism. That's an important enough feature of our culture -- really bedrock, actually -- that it deserves particular attention, which I will provide next. I've discussed this before but my thinking, and my presentation of it, have developed further.

Wednesday Bible Study: Ladies' day

We at last come to the end of Romans. As I said last time, this chapter was likely appended after the document was originally completed. It's notable for the rather glaring reason that it name checks many women, some of whom are called deacons and one, Junia, is specifically called an apostle. The Catholic Church does not allow women to be priests, on the grounds that all of the apostles were men. That wouldn't really follow anyway, but this would seem to contradict that assertion, and in any case the numerous women listed here who are not explicitly called apostles appear to have served in that capacity.

 

We don't know who composed this, but it is interesting that the purported scribe identifies himself in verse 22 and allows himself to speak in his own voice.  That is a unique occurrence. It is also a bit puzzling because it appears that Luke, the author of a gospel and of Acts, accompanied Paul and served as his scribe at the time Romans was written. That might be wrong, but it points to how murky the origins are of all this material.

 

Once again, in verse 20, Paul predicts the imminent apocalypse. We're still waiting. 

 

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon^[a][b] of the church in Cenchreae. ² I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

³ Greet Priscilla^[c] and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. ⁴ They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

⁵ Greet also the church that meets at their house.

Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

⁶ Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among^[d] the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

⁸ Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

⁹ Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

¹⁰ Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.

Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹ Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.

Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

¹² Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

¹³ Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

¹⁴ Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.

¹⁵ Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them.

¹⁶ Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the churches of Christ send greetings.

¹⁷ I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. ¹⁸ For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. ¹⁹ Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

²⁰ The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹ Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.

²² I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

²³ Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.

Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. ^[24] [e]

²⁵ Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from^[f] faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

1. Romans 16:1 Or servant
2. Romans 16:1 The word deacon refers here to a Christian designated to serve with the overseers/elders of the church in a variety of ways; similarly in Phil. 1:1 and 1 Tim. 3:8,12.
3. Romans 16:3 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla
4. Romans 16:7 Or are esteemed by
5. Romans 16:24 Some manuscripts include here May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.
6. Romans 16:26 Or that is