“The notion that a society could be regulated entirely by market forces is a utopian fantasy: an impossible dream generated by imagining what the world would be like if everyone's behavior was utterly consistent with some abstract moral ideal-in this case, economic theories that assume all human action is based on calculating, systematic, (but scrupulously law-abiding), greed.” IfsWorldHumansDreamWould BeActionLawForceMoralCasesFantasyImpossibleEconomicTheoryBehaviorIdealsAssumingNotionGreedLibertarianAbstractConsistentAbidingSystematicUtopianCalculatingHuman ActionsEconomic TheoryImpossible Dream Author:David Graeber
“If future society assumes the contours foretold by Marxism, if the jungle of our cities turns to the polis of man and the dreams of anger are made real, the representative art will be high comedy. Art will be the laughter of intelligence, as it is in Plato, in Mozart, in Stendhal.” IfsMenArtMadeRealDreamTurnsCitiesComedyLaughterAssumingRepresentativesPlatoJungleMarxismPolisFuture Society Book:Language and silence: essays on language, literature, and the inhuman Source: Language and silence: essays on language, literature, and the inhuman
“How do I know that loving life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death I am not like a man who, having left home in his youth, has forgotten the way back?...someday there will be a great awakening when we know that this is all a great dream. Yet the stupid believe that they are awake, busily and brightly assuming they understand things, calling this man ruler, and that man a herdsman- how dense!” KnowsMenWayBelieveHomeDreamLife IsHateLeftStupidYouthCallingAssumingForgottenInsightAwakeningAwakeSomedayDelusionRulersLoving LifeDense Author:Zhuangzi
“It is the assumption of this book that there is a typical human nature. It is the aim of this book to seek it. Just like a surgeon, a psychiatrist can make all sorts of basic assumptions when a patient lies down upon the couch. He can assume that the patient knows what it means to love, to envy, to trust, to think, to speak, to fear, to smile, to bargain, to covet, to dream, to remember, to sing, to quarrel, to lie. The 'smile' of a baboon is a threat; the smile of a man is a sign of pleasure: it is human nature, the world over.” ThinkingKnowsMenWorldHumansMeanBookDreamRememberLyingSpeakPleasureHuman NatureEvolutionAimAssumingThreatPatientEnvyAssumptionTypicalQuarrelsCouchesPsychiatristBargainsSurgeonsBaboons Author:Matt Ridley
“I think there's a real tension between capitalism and morality. That's not to say these systems aren't powerful and useful, but to assume that capitalism can somehow assure moral behavior or character, that's just a pipe dream.” ThinkingRealCharacterDreamPowerfulMoralMoralityBehaviorCapitalismAssumingTensionPipePipe DreamsMoral Behavior Author:Michael Pollan