Subject: Re: If Laggards Rule, Will Universities Collapse?
From: Glenn Ralston (gralston@in.net)
Date: Fri 28 Jan 2000 - 15:30:03 MET
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 09:30:03 -0500 From: Glenn Ralston <gralston@in.net> Subject: Re: If Laggards Rule, Will Universities Collapse?
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William Dwyer wrote: "Is it the "new economy" or a new understanding of
economics? Or both?"
GR: Both. It is the "New Economy", which we can now understand by rejecting the
category errors explicit in our "standard" economic modeling. see also
<http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewArticles/33336.html>
WD: ["Butterfly Economics"] "... seems to be about the difficulty in economic
modeling because of the unpredictability of human behavior".
GR: Yes, our "standard" economic modeling was inherently faulty. see also
<http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cte650.htm>
Glenn Ralston
>
> In a message dated 1/27/00 11:46:35 AM, Glenn Ralston writes:
>
> >This "what-if" question typical of the "inquiring mind" is now moot.
> >The next might be "what-if" academics still can't comprehend the "New
> >Economy"?
>
> Is it the "new economy" or a new understanding of economics? Or both?
>
> >If our academics are not too near a "very retiring" age, a
> >newish theory of economic behavior "Butterfly Economics: A New General
> >Theory of Social and Economic Behavior" [Pantheon Books; ISBN: 0375407650;
> ><http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375407650/qid=948801648/sr=1-2/002-2
> 481347-8229866>]
> >by Paul Ormerod of the British journal "The Economist" could show them
> >how to get up to speed.
>
> How does it (they?) do that? The book seems to be about the difficulty in
> economic modeling because of the unpredictability of human behavior.
>
> > It also can correct the category error
> >implicit in the fundamental misunderstanding by naysayers and
> >economists who swore by hell-and-highwater ("NO productivity increases
> >shown") that PCs and the other emerging information technologies had
> >not, could not, and would not change our real world -- or, our culture
> >of learning.
>
> Again, please explain the connection between your statement and the "new
> economics" to which you're referring. Thanks.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> William Dwyer Assistant Professor
> 304C Graves Hall of Science Education
> College of Education Telephone: 205-348-5246
> University of Alabama Facsimile: 205-348-6780
> Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0231 Email: William.Dwyer@ua.edu
> Course information online: http://www.bamaed.ua.edu/~wdwyer/
> Voice signature: http://pagoo.com/signature/wdwyer
>
>
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