I didn't downvote you, but my best guess to why you're being downvoted is that HN skews capitalist, and confusing the market with politics is, in the capitalist p.o.v., how the game is in fact played.
Myself, I don't think that you can untangle (even in your mind) the mess that is the market (financial system, really) from the mess that is the government. They're called "voting dollars" for a reason.
I prefer to just refer to the whole big mess as "The System".
As for downvotes, I don't think they add any value to the site except to encourage groupthink, and you're better off ignoring them. Or take them as a hint that you might be on to something! :)
I assume you're being downvoted because you seem to have misread the author's statement and created a strawman argument. He posited that the financial system's algorithm's purpose is to answer, "what should we do?". You seem to have interpreted that as saying that the financial system should answer that problem for society as a whole.
> He posited that the financial system's algorithm's purpose is to answer, "what should we do?".
Yes, That is just re-stating what the author wrote, without providing any clarifying information.
> You seem to have interpreted that as saying that the financial system should answer that problem for society as a whole.
Maybe yes that is a maximalist interpretation; what is the alternative interpretation (it doesn't seem to be present in the author's text)?
> move away from min-sum towards sum-product (which often works an order of magnitude better) by perhaps implementing basic income. Etc. Etc.
Referencing 'basic income' here seems like a whole society problem to me, which has nothing to do with the technical implementation financial payment gateways, no?
Myself, I don't think that you can untangle (even in your mind) the mess that is the market (financial system, really) from the mess that is the government. They're called "voting dollars" for a reason.
I prefer to just refer to the whole big mess as "The System".
As for downvotes, I don't think they add any value to the site except to encourage groupthink, and you're better off ignoring them. Or take them as a hint that you might be on to something! :)