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by PhasmaFelis 1165 days ago
Thanks for linking this! I read the introduction and skimmed the text. The details of manufacturing such a simple object are fascinating, of course. I certainly agree that they demonstrate one of the reasons why centralized planning doesn't work.

Going from "central planning doesn't work" to "therefore we have proven that unregulated capitalism leads to utopia" is...odd.

1 comments

The irony is that central planning would be more possible now than ever.

Previously, there was a data collection, storage, and processing limitation. Manual collection, entry, and early computers simply couldn't process quickly enough to continually model the economy at the requisite fidelity.

But now, we still have the human data reporting problem, where the storage, network, and computational resources are possible, but the first mile "getting true numbers, reliably" still prevents the implementation of an effective centralized system.