Mindscape 283 | Daron Acemoglu on Technology, Inequality, and Power

[@garydecad6233]

Thank you Sean for this guest discussion with Daron. Mindscape is a treasure.

[@trevorcrowley5748]

The Nobel committee agrees!

[@bnightm]

28:39 What about the third option: Strive for the worker-less factories, but use our institutions to guarantee "factory owners" aren't the only people benefiting from them.

[@nda4591]

Very interesting conversation!!! Very balanced perspective, worth listening to!

[@vogarner]

Great discussion. One thing we in the west forget though, is that the eventual correction to better conditions for western workers was made possible by continuing extraction, exploitation and violence in the global south. It is no coincidence that the prospering of the 1950s American middle class happened at the very time American Empire became hegemonic in its domination through the post war 'international order.' So the idea that capitalism can correct it's negative outcomes, hasn't really been proven. I think the argument might hold if it had happened at the expense of the western elites instead. Of course, then it wouldn't have happened at all.

[@luizarthurbrito]

My goal in life is to have more citations than him. I'm first on a quest for the elixir of life. Wish me luck.

[@FreethinkingSecularist]

I'm rooting for you pal! Remember me the random dude from KZbin when you discover this elixir of eternal life. Lol

[@rayfighter]

noble pursuit. Best of luck! 😂

[@vishnupeketi7596]

All the best

[@saadibnasaadhusain]

I just started reading "Why Nations Fail".

[@tomarmstrong1550]

Great read. 👍

[@dukeallen432]

Great presentation.

[@jayvincent1865]

42:45 Best case scenario is the corporations have to pay a fine , then they go back to doing it again.

[@jayvincent1865]

1:08:09 Free apps and games... All of them require access to your data. They don't need to charge you anything. They're making millions selling your data..

[@jayvincent1865]

9:03 . Equality in any sense of the word , unfortunately is not ever going to be a realistic expectation. The people at the top are literally too powerful for us to hold them accountable..

[@adriancook9742]

I couldn't help somehow being reminded of Hannah Arendt talking about the banality of evil that is, "the good that capitalism does" not a direct quotation by the way.

[@myczycz]

Thank you for this conversation! So it seems the only way to make our economic system less horrible for the ordinary people, is by institutions and political power... It will be a tough battle against populist right-wing forces, who only have the rich's interests in mind.

[@orgilgankhuyag5222]

Who is here from Startalk?

[@user-CIGAxScape]

Why technology, Innovations, intelligence and UNEMPLOYMENT as a consequence doesn't help us stopping Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide and Terrorism ??? ? (with references to ICC, ICJ and UN)

[@jayvincent1865]

37:38 Voting doesn't change anything.. As long as representatives aren't legally obligated to represent their constituents. 90 percent of a district can vote for someone, and their representative can vote for someone else.. As we've seen many times it's not easy to oust a representative.

[@jayvincent1865]

If a middle or lower class citizen doesn't pay their taxes it ruins their life. Right now there are thousands of extremely wealthy people who have a combined Billions owed to the IRS.

[@jayvincent1865]

Politicians don't have power . Power is the money behind them. Most of which is undisclosed. Specifically to shield the donors from being liable or responsible for the outcome.

[@АлександрГодзиковский-ь1р]

Ain't seeing any changes between now and then, except may be that the same stuff is wrapped up and packed better 🤣

[@julsius]

so taxing digital ads? I think Bill Gates previously said tax robots. more immediate problems than automation in the west include excessive immigration and rent-seeking making housing unaffordable. so how bout taxing land values? which both Adam Smith and Henry George (author of Progress and Poverty ) would've done. I wonder if Mr. Acemoglu's book goes into the power of land monopoly?

[@sunroad7228]

The Magna Carta requires today overhauling adding to it the right for humans to understand what Energy really means before any other commandment. "In any system of energy, Control is what consumes energy the most. No energy store holds enough energy to extract an amount of energy equal to the total energy it stores. No system of energy can deliver sum useful energy in excess of the total energy put into constructing it. This universal truth applies to all systems. Energy, like time, flows from past to future" (2017).

[@JoshuaAMartin]

Sorry I haven't been liking but Spotify hasn't got a like button, 👍🤙✌️

[@jirikivaari]

Meh, meager analysis by Acemoglu. No mention of many other terms of inequality that are much more valuable via revealed preferences such as genes, status, social influence, parents etc. It is just hypocrisy. Discussion focusing only on wealth inequality is what humans have always been good at, coming up with some overt moral violations so one group can coordinate extraction of resources from another.

[@marierausku9292]

Although he speaks about e.g. racial inequality and cultural factors (and that includes social influence and the way children are raised) And as an economist why would he measure inequality of genes?

[@jirikivaari]

​@@marierausku9292 Because economics is not a study of just money. If someone has genes of high value (whatever attribute) and you transfer money to him/her from someone who has none of that ceteris paribus, you are not actually improving anything. It could well be a wealth transfer from poor to the rich. Of course all this depends on personal preferences (which actually can be reduced even more but thats beyond this comment), but point is any serious analysis would have to take these into account. Non-inherited money is mostly earned, at least a hundred times more than genes. There's actually rather known paper by economist G. Mankiw why we should tax tall people more than short people, using standard utilitarian calculus. He's not really advocating it seriously, rather its more of a thought-experiment.