Treebeard said:
And lastly, if we are playing in the reductionist sandbox of economic performance, we have to stop conflating what works with what is fair. The abhorrent systems of forced labor are completely unfair, but they are bang up effective from an economic point of view (if net profits is your yardstick, isn't that all wall street cares about?). ... Small classes of people have done very very well for themselves for generation after generation with horribly unfair economic systems (and caused unimaginable suffering for generations as well). Money printing, particularly if you are the owner of the worlds reserve currency, is damned effective monetary policy in the short run (short is not measure in terms of months either). You get to collect a tax globally from all the dollar holders and you don't need their consent. If you run into problems, you have the most powerful army in the world to back you up....I really like the point you make here, Treebeard. My suggestion: how about adding another "E" for "Empathy"?One of the things that is best about this this site is it's founding premise of the three E's, nothing makes sense in isolation. As difficult as it is the[re] needs be a place in the analysis for the softer side of things, whether you call it art, culture, religion, spirituality, or just plain love. If we stay on the side of the analysis which can be mathematically expressed only, we will continue to head into the dark abyss that we are currently pointed towards. [bold mine]
(1) This basically encompasses the "Golden Rule", "Do unto others as you would have done to yourself". This would add a moral/spiritual dimension to our model of the world, which in turn adds visibility and accountability for how the 3 E's are achieved.
(2) The other thing I like about adding "Empathy" is that it is the lack of Empathy that is one of the signature characteristics of Sociopaths and Psychopaths (which many argue are over-represented in the top levels of people in power). Sociopaths and Psychopaths do whatever they want to get whatever they want, because they just don't care how their actions impact others. They are incapable of caring.
We measure what we value. I agree with you, that as long as we don't add some measure for the level of humanity with which we live in this world -how we achieve our ends- then our model implies (or at least leaves open the interpretation) that the ends themselves are all that matter, no matter how they are achieved.