Fantastic. I'd love to teach this. Actually, I do teach this -- I co-direct the University at Buffalo NYC Program in Finance & Law -- but I don't have Legos! Please get this built. Happy to discuss further, quibbles, add ons (though fractal is wonderful) . . . bravo.
Such a lego set would be very instructive, particularly if paired with a Biosphere set on the same lines. The complexity of the relationships and the essentially parallel interactions would lend themselves to a generic production line but - and this is the kicker - with vastly different results. The game could be further enhanced with betting on what leads to the different results. My money, such as it is, is on humans inability to manage complexity in a system that absolves them of responsibility.
God, exceptional stuff again Brett. Yet again you've really helped simplify and clarify some things that were quite tangled in my mind, while also faithfully pointing out the places where you might be verging on oversimplification. Thank you!
Skin in the Lego Game. You could expand your idea to multiple Lego sets (Brett's, Biosphere, etc.) and map the elements of the generic production line you mentioned for patterns.
I agree with you that "consumers" are caught in the churn. And... I believe we have a *little* more agency than perhaps this piece gives us credit for?
At the same time I type this, I'm also thinking "nevermind." Eeeeek. 😬
In this case, what or who, can precipitate change? And what kinds of change?
I know, big questions, but it's easy to spiral down on this one....
Hi Liz, I'm not against the idea that we have forms of agency. What I rebel against (perhaps a bit too reactively) is the idea that *all* agency resides in 'consumers'. Sophisticated economists of course know that this is not the case, but in the political use of economics, firms, politicians etc will often deploy this idea that consumers drive everything. It's something that I also comment on in my Going Cashless piece (https://aeon.co/essays/going-cashless-is-a-bad-idea-but-its-not-a-conspiracy), in the section where I look at the pyramid, and the politics of presenting something as either driven from the bottom-up or top-down. The reality of course is that there is a complex entanglement of top down and bottom up, and any question about precipitating change has to engage with that entanglement
Yes, there are many problems at each stage - at some point I'll do an entire piece just on the different destructive elements associated with each part of the picture, and also alternatives to those
Fantastic. I'd love to teach this. Actually, I do teach this -- I co-direct the University at Buffalo NYC Program in Finance & Law -- but I don't have Legos! Please get this built. Happy to discuss further, quibbles, add ons (though fractal is wonderful) . . . bravo.
Hi David, really glad that you like it. Would love to hear more about your approach. Where can I find out more?
Brett, at your convenience, shoot me an email. Mine is dwestbro@buffalo.edu, or davidalbertwestbrook@gmail.com
Books are here, for some sense/in case of interest.
https://www.davidawestbrook.com/books.html
Such a lego set would be very instructive, particularly if paired with a Biosphere set on the same lines. The complexity of the relationships and the essentially parallel interactions would lend themselves to a generic production line but - and this is the kicker - with vastly different results. The game could be further enhanced with betting on what leads to the different results. My money, such as it is, is on humans inability to manage complexity in a system that absolves them of responsibility.
Sounds like we have a lot of sets to built. Better get to work!
This is really helpful. Thanks Brett.
Great, I'm glad that it's helpful Helen
God, exceptional stuff again Brett. Yet again you've really helped simplify and clarify some things that were quite tangled in my mind, while also faithfully pointing out the places where you might be verging on oversimplification. Thank you!
There will be more coming in this series too, so watch this space ;)
Have you seen Adam Tooze’s recent piece on “the EU as a loosely and liberally articulated, state capitalism”? He starts from this premise and thinks through what happened in the GFC and since. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamtooze/p/chartbook-261-a-failed-project-of?r=8i8ok&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Hi Rajan, I haven't seen it, but I'll check it out. Thanks for the link
Skin in the Lego Game. You could expand your idea to multiple Lego sets (Brett's, Biosphere, etc.) and map the elements of the generic production line you mentioned for patterns.
Replying to Richard Bergson
I’m sure you’d find very similar processes going on. It’s just one is programmed for constructive balance and the other for destructive imbalance.
I agree with you that "consumers" are caught in the churn. And... I believe we have a *little* more agency than perhaps this piece gives us credit for?
At the same time I type this, I'm also thinking "nevermind." Eeeeek. 😬
In this case, what or who, can precipitate change? And what kinds of change?
I know, big questions, but it's easy to spiral down on this one....
Hi Liz, I'm not against the idea that we have forms of agency. What I rebel against (perhaps a bit too reactively) is the idea that *all* agency resides in 'consumers'. Sophisticated economists of course know that this is not the case, but in the political use of economics, firms, politicians etc will often deploy this idea that consumers drive everything. It's something that I also comment on in my Going Cashless piece (https://aeon.co/essays/going-cashless-is-a-bad-idea-but-its-not-a-conspiracy), in the section where I look at the pyramid, and the politics of presenting something as either driven from the bottom-up or top-down. The reality of course is that there is a complex entanglement of top down and bottom up, and any question about precipitating change has to engage with that entanglement
Yes! Agreed--there are all kinds of entanglements on every level. Part of what makes agency seem hard to decipher.
I read that piece--though a while ago now. Thanks for writing such thorough, thoughtful content.
Brilliant! I've just missed the huge quantity of waste produced in every stage
Yes, there are many problems at each stage - at some point I'll do an entire piece just on the different destructive elements associated with each part of the picture, and also alternatives to those
Remember that managers and workers are also consumers. How does that work out in the model?
Hi Hilary, I talk about that in the last section, called The Connections