Re: Teach the hungry (Was: Hollywood Economics)

Bryan Moss (bryan.moss@dial.pipex.com)
Fri, 4 Sep 1998 15:45:04 +0100

J. Maxwell Legg wrote:

> > Are you saying the economy's a bit like a
> > neural net so lets make it even more like a
> > neural net?
>
> YES
>
> > I think you're suggesting `filtering' the
> > interactions of capitalists to fit the model
> > of a neural net more precisely, but I'm
> > unsure.
>
> RIGHT ON!!!

I understand that this wouldn't work with only two people, but would the following be (roughly) a correct way of explaining this idea?

Two people arguing over who gets a piece of land in the current economy:

A <----- communication ------> B

Two people arguing over who gets a piece of land in the post-economy: 

        |--------> Neural Net <--------|
        |                              |
        A                              B

In the second example A and B's communication is filtered (or moderated) to become a useful part of the neural net. In the first example the two would have to come to some sort of agreement. In the second example the decision making process happens in the neural net, which is a product of A and B's interaction. With a larger network of people, communication between the two would join a neural net built from the interactions between millions of people and a far more complex decision making process would take place.

I have to say that, from what I understand, I like the idea. But it's incredibly hard to imagine such a system being implemented.

BM