Re: [ox-en] verzola on abundance

Hi Stefan et al,

Verzola contributed another version of this argument to a special
issue of IRIE, I also picked up on his approach in my own essay.

http://www.i-r-i-e.net/issue11.htm

best,

Soenke

2010/7/6 Stefan Merten <[email protected]>:
> Hi list!
>
> I remembered this post from Graham fitting well into the discussion on
> scarcity, limitedness, etc.
>
> 20 months (603 days) ago graham wrote:
>> Roberto Verzola has a new paper about managing abundance on:
>>
>> http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1160044
>>
>> (although it looks like only an abstract, you can download the whole
>> thing from that page.)
>>
>> Haven't read it all yet, but generally Verzola's writings are quite
>> relevant to oekonux
>
> I read the important parts and can only agree. Really a nice paper. I
> also added him as a possible speaker on the 5th Oekonux Conference.
>
> Here are some quotes on the scarcity topic:
>
>  Looking more closely at the logic of business firms, it is obvious
>  that the immediate effect of restricting abundance is to reduce
>  supply and increase overall demand. These in turn raise prices or
>  keep their levels high. If the costs of production change little or
>  not at all and prices go up, then profits go up. This is the logic
>  behind corporate efforts to develop technologies and influence State
>  policies that give them closer control over the abundance and
>  scarcity of goods: to create the best conditions for maximizing
>  profits.
>
>  [...]
>
>  Shouldn't this selfish end give way to higher societal goals? The
>  economist's answer is that society's higher goals are indeed served
>  when everyone pursues their own selfinterest in free competition
>  with others. In fact, economists argue, the competitive pursuit of
>  individual gain accomplishes overall social goals *better*, even if
>  this "was no part of his intention," than when individuals
>  consciously try to advance society's higher goals. This idea that
>  individual pursuit of selfinterest not only leads to but is actually
>  the *best* path towards overall social good became the moral basis for
>  capitalist society. This was the programmed into business firms as
>  an "urge" to maximize gain, and they do so by controlling abundance
>  and scarcity in their favor. This is the driving force behind
>  antiabundance.
>
>  -- p.16 - emphasis in original
>
> I couldn't have said it better :-) .
>
> He also gives some advice. I'm quoting only the headlines here:
>
>  The ultimate goal of any management regime should be to ensure
>  against any failure of abundance. The following specific goals are
>  suggested:
>
>  1. Make the resource accessible to a greater number of people -
>     ideally, to all.
>
>  2. Make sure the resource will last for generations, preferably
>     indefinitely.
>
>  3. Build a cascade of abundance.
>
>  4. Develop an ethic that nurtures abundance.
>
>  5. Attain dynamic balance.
>
>  -- p.18ff.
>
> Advice 3 is BTW the way Free Software came into being. It all started
> with an editor (Emacs) and an compiler (Gcc).
>
> He also gives some threats:
>
>  1. The current reliance on a nonrenewable energy base.
>
>  2. The linear production processes of the industrial sector.
>
>  3. The unchecked growth of human population.
>
>  4. The unlimited corporate drive for profit.
>
>  -- p.20f.
>
> Of course I think threat 4 is the most important and threat 2 and
> threat 1 are closely related to threat 4.
>
>
>                                                Grüße
>
>                                                Stefan
>
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