Science, Science & Marxism

[Charles Jannuzi]

Scott M:
>But in between, there is a large >area where it is possible to admit >that
markets serve a necessary >function, but where it is also >possible to think
>some other institution might serve >this function as well or better.  >That
is an issue that only time can >resolve - I assume feudalists >couldn't see
how
>any system without lords could >work either.  Regardless, the bulk >of
economic activity is planned by >some agents in the system, based >on some
heuristic that tells them >when they are making good or bad >plans.  I have
>always understood class >revolution to be principally >concerned with
changing
>the agents making the decisions >and the heuristics by which they >evaluate
outcomes.  It seems to >me this is true both for market >socialists and for
>non-market socialists.

Good points you've made so far Scott (be careful, I found them relevant and
interesting). I always like to think of real world examples. For example,
look at the way the Soviet and the American systems competed head to head to
put people into outerspace and make MIRVed ICBMs. I think if you got down to
the nuts and bolts of the programs you might find the parallels and
similarities and mixtures more interesting than the ideological purities or
differences.
A parallel in Japan, btw, might be how the government worked with
enterprises to extend a network of aerospace-class trains over the country.
The knock-on effects of all three programs for their respective economies
and societies were enormous. For example, one of my uncles took his training
and expertise he got at NASA and contracted companies and moved on to
applying it to oil drilling, among many other things.

Charles Jannuzi