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Monday, May 07, 2007

Are we naturally born levelers?

Ok, this article appears in the libertarian (Randian, really), free market and arrogantly named magazine Reason. Nevertheless, it's a really interesting piece on our inborn tendency to level resources, particularly income. As game theory investigates, it's coming to some conclusions that might surprise many apologists for the supposed naturalness of the capitalist system.

Ronald Bailey's article asks us, are we all born natural communists (or anarchists)? More and more research seems to say, yes. When you've read this, if you have some time, follow it up with the Richard Dawkins video in which he clarifies his often misinterpreted theory of the Selfish Gene. Cooperation, he asserts, is much more powerful than we have been led to believe. Capitalism is not in our blood, despite the reigning ideology of the day. Of course, those of us who have read Kropotkin's 'Mutual Aid' know this already, don't we?

Read this:
Natural Born Communists? Some economic game theory suggests we may be.

And watch this:

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