From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Sun Dec 12 2004 - 02:48:10 GMT
Hi Platt, dmb, all
I and others have dismantled Platt's interpretation of his favorite
Pirsig quote so many times, I'll just refer everyone to the archives.
The reason I've chosen to pick on so called Capitalism in this thread
is that this economic model is the de facto standard in the west;
it's the one we appear to be stuck with for now, for better or for
worse. But I really want to get away from the capitalism-good
socialism-bad simplicities and try to explore ways in which we can
move toward a higher quality economic solution than either has so far
been able to offer.
About the so called free-market system, profit-driven, competition-
based, I believe Pirsig is correct in the same way that Adam Smith is
correct: On paper, it sounds like a good idea. But the following
two paragraphs offer a couple of talking points for us to consider.
In reality, competition produces redundancy, not efficiency. I mean,
do we really need 25 different brands of deodorant? One of the
reason people are put off by advertising is that it is rarely about
the quality of a product: it's about trying to persuade people to
choose one of 25 functionally identical products. So, in car adds,
we see cars climbing waterfalls and mountains and rainbows; we see
cars full of young, happy, sexy, energetic people who's lives have
finally been made perfect because they decided on a Chevy not a Ford.
Is this really the highest quality use of the public airwaves?
In reality, maximization of profits doesn't produce quality, it
results in a race to the bottom: Why produce a high quality light
bulb that will last for 50 years when it's more profitable to have
them burn out in a month or two? Why make a printer that will run
for years on a single supply of toner, when so much profit can be
made selling lots of toner?
Finally, I would like to address one of Platt's comments:
platt:
I find no good reason to "step outside the MOQ" since Pirsig is
obviously talking about the "real world," not some imaginary
Never-Never Land.
msh says:
How do we know he's talking about the real world if we don't check?
It seems strange to suggest that we don't need to "step outside the
MOQ" in order to evaluate whether or not the existing so-called free
market system is really all that free or dynamic or high quality. Do
we really think that Pirsig, the rational empiricist, expects us to
evaluate and perhaps utilize the MOQ by endlessly dissecting and
discussing it in some vacuum-sealed environment?
Thanks to all for any thoughtful contributions.
Best,
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
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