![Cultish delusions [1213x1351 - 182KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/qHDfBL.jpg){kind=link}
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And concerning this:
After all, if their ultimate authority is merely themselves (that is, their own self-interest)
Haven't you read Adam Smith?! The Invisible Hand will ensure everything works out for everyone's mutual benefit!
We all know how that worked out.
Highly relevant passage from EMJ's Barren Metal:
The change in motion Newton wrought by making force the central concern of his physics would have profound political and economic implications. Once inertia became the fundamental principle of the universe, strife would become central to all subsequent expressions of the English ideology based on Newtonian physics. According to Adam Smith's reading of Newton, greed or self-love is an instinct which is analogous to inertia in that each body in space seeks its own good without regard to any other body. Greed, which would lead to chaos, is held in check by competition, and the result is Smith's version of perfect motion, otherwise known as the "invisible hand" which assures that private vice is transformed magically (or alchemically) into public good. (pg. 474)
That's a great EMJ quote. I really like Jones's ability to interpret the prevailing cultural myth, and he uses excellent metaphors.
This one reminded me of some thought from a guy called John David Ebert. He is an underrated cultural critic from back in the 90s, and he came out of the Joe Campbell institute - so he is an expert on myth.
He described what EMJ does, pertaining to mechanistic physics, as a shift from the Christian mythos to the cultural mythos of machina.
It causes a fundamental shift in the way we see human beings, and it is evident everywhere. Ryle called the Cartesian view of mind: the ghost in the machine, and this played a role on par with Newton, highlighting this changing view of ourselves. By extension, God becomes the ghost in the economic machine...morality cannot be found explicitly, rather it emerges from the invisible ghost that emanates from behind our rugged self-interest.
EDIT: If you happen to look up JDE's youtube channel, just know that more recently he has gotten very into the esoteric, ala Steiner. I find that stuff interesting, but his earlier stuff is more level-headed. His lecture series on Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is probably the best on youtube, and I'd highly recommend it. His series on Spengler is also worth it, but it is a commitment.
It causes a fundamental shift in the way we see human beings, and it is evident everywhere. Ryle called the Cartesian view of mind: the ghost in the machine, and this played a role on par with Newton, highlighting this changing view of ourselves. By extension, God becomes the ghost in the economic machine...morality cannot be found explicitly, rather it emerges from the invisible ghost that emanates from behind our rugged self-interest.
Treating economics mechanistically, following Newton's seeming validation of mechanistic reductionism, justifies the treatment of economics as a physical system of science, rather than a moral one - which is obviously is since it involves the decisions of people. Taking morality out of economics is what has enabled the abuses of capitalism and communism alike.
So you're saying... To make rent, I need to resort to immoral means. Okay.
Good commentary.
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