Scientific progress and Scarcity

["Harry Veeder" <eo200@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
>Sven R Larson wrote:
>
>> This is a very a-historical statement. The scientific revolutions were
>> thwarted for a long time by political interests who instead directed
>> research such taht it would corroborate certain political ideas. Whether
>> those politicians were kings or men of the church is ephemeral.
>>

Two recent books have come out which challenge this popular belief
with respect to the church. See _The Sun in the Church_
and _Galieo's Mistake_.


> >Henry C.K. Liu wrote:
>They don't give you one not because Corvettes are scarce, but that you value other
>goods more.  The trade off is your decision.  There are many free commodities which
>you also do not consume.  What is scarce is an instrument of exchange: money - a
>totally artifical construct imposed on society.  Any system is totally capable of
>producing all the Corvette consumers may want, provided ways are found to deliver
>money, through income, to all.  The rationing of Corvettes is not a natural
>phenomenom.  BTW, while you are demanding, why not a Ferrari ?

I don't think material things are scarce, but I do think Time is scarce.
The question is how does money come to embody the scarcity
of time. It is a difficult conceptual problem.

Harry Veeder