Excellent episode. Should it be titled "In praise of fiat currency?"
Gene Expression
Human evolution, genetics, genomics and their interstices
Books
- Principles of Population Genetics
- Genetics of Populations
- Molecular Evolution
- Quantitative Genetics
- Evolutionary Quantitative Genetics
- Evolutionary Genetics
- Evolution
- Molecular Markers, Natural History, and Evolution
- The Genetics of Human Populations
- Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits
- Epistasis and Evolutionary Process
- Evolutionary Human Genetics
- Biometry
- Mathematical Models in Biology
- Kratom
- Speciation
- Evolutionary Genetics: Case Studies and Concepts
- Narrow Roads of Gene Land 1
- Narrow Roads of Gene Land 2
- Narrow Roads of Gene Land 3
- Statistical Methods in Molecular Evolution
- The History and Geography of Human Genes
- Population Genetics and Microevolutionary Theory
- Population Genetics, Molecular Evolution, and the Neutral Theory
- Genetical Theory of Natural Selection
- Evolution and the Genetics of Populations
- Genetics and Origins of Species
- Tempo and Mode in Evolution
- Causes of Evolution
- Evolution
- The Great Human Diasporas
- Bones, Stones and Molecules
- Natural Selection and Social Theory
- Journey of Man
- Mapping Human History
- The Seven Daughters of Eve
- Evolution for Everyone
- Why Sex Matters
- Mother Nature
- Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language
- Genome
- R.A. Fisher, the Life of a Scientist
- Sewall Wright and Evolutionary Biology
- Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics
- A Reason for Everything
- The Ancestor's Tale
- Dragon Bone Hill
- Endless Forms Most Beautiful
- The Selfish Gene
- Adaptation and Natural Selection
- Nature via Nurture
- The Symbolic Species
- The Imitation Factor
- The Red Queen
- Out of Thin Air
- Mutants
- Evolutionary Dynamics
- The Origin of Species
- The Descent of Man
- Age of Abundance
- The Darwin Wars
- The Evolutionists
- The Creationists
- Of Moths and Men The Language Instinct
- How We Decide
- Predictably Irrational
- The Black Swan
- Fooled By Randomness
- Descartes' Baby
- Religion Explained
- In Gods We Trust
- Darwin's Cathedral
- A Theory of Religion
- The Meme Machine
- Synaptic Self
- The Mating Mind
- A Separate Creation
- The Number Sense
- The 10,000 Year Explosion
- The Math Gene
- Explaining Culture
- Origin and Evolution of Cultures
- Dawn of Human Culture
- The Origins of Virtue
- Prehistory of the Mind
- The Nurture Assumption
- The Moral Animal
- Born That Way
- No Two Alike
- Sociobiology
- Survival of the Prettiest
- The Blank Slate
- The g Factor
- The Origin Of The Mind
- Unto Others
- Defenders of the Truth
- The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition
- Before the Dawn
- Behavioral Genetics in the Postgenomic Era
- The Essential Difference
- Geography of Thought
- The Classical World
- The Fall of the Roman Empire
- The Fall of Rome
- History of Rome
- How Rome Fell
- The Making of a Christian Aristoracy
- The Rise of Western Christendom
- Keepers of the Keys of Heaven
- A History of the Byzantine State and Society
- Europe After Rome
- The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity
- The Barbarian Conversion
- A History of Christianity
- God's War
- Infidels
- Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople
- The Sacred Chain
- Divided by the Faith
- Europe
- The Reformation
- Pursuit of Glory
- Albion's Seed
- 1848
- Postwar
- From Plato to Nato
- China: A New History
- China in World History
- Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
- Children of the Revolution
- When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World
- The Great Arab Conquests
- After Tamerlane
- A History of Iran
- The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
- A World History
- Guns, Germs, and Steel
- The Human Web
- Plagues and Peoples
- 1491
- A Concise Economic History of the World
- Power and Plenty
- A Splendid Exchange
- Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD
- Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations
- A Farewell to Alms
- The Ascent of Money
- The Great Divergence
- Clash of Extremes
- War and Peace and War
- Historical Dynamics
- The Age of Lincoln
- The Great Upheaval
- What Hath God Wrought
- Freedom Just Around the Corner
- Throes of Democracy
- Grand New Party
- A Beautiful Math
- When Genius Failed
- Catholicism and Freedom
- American Judaism
Q & A
- Peter Turchin
- Parag Khanna
- James Flynn
- Jon Entine
- Gregory Clark
- György Buzsáki
- Heather Mac Donald
- Bruce Lahn
- A.W.F. Edwards
- Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
- Joseph LeDoux
- Matthew Stewart
- Charles Murray
- Steven Pinker
- James F. Crow
- Adam K. Webb
- Justin L. Barrett
- David Haig
- Judith Rich Harris
- Ken Miller
- Dan Sperber
- Warren Treadgold
- Armand M. Leroi
- John Derbyshire
Search this blog
Recent Comments
- miko on Canada is not a "free society"
- Steve on Canada is not a "free society"
- Richard on Canada is not a "free society"
- omar on Canada is not a "free society"
- omar on Canada is not a "free society"
- miko on Canada is not a "free society"
- Interrobang on Canada is not a "free society"
- Naughtius Maximus on The luck of the Irish
- Snippet on Canada is not a "free society"
- quidnunc on Canada is not a "free society"
Archives
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
Categories
- Anthroplogy
- Ask a ScienceBlogger
- Biology
- Blog
- Cognitive Science
- Culture
- Economics
- Environment
- History
- International Affairs
- Medicine
- Politics
- Psychology
- Religion
- Science
- Space
- Technology
- Transhumanism
- philosophy
Blogroll
- GNXP Classic
- Razib @ Comment is Free
- Your Religion Is False
- Arikia Millikan
- John Hawks
- Dienekes
- Steve Sailer
- Michael & co.
- Sepia Mutiny
Recent Posts
« Signals of recent positive selection, words vs. figures | Main | Whither the cloud? »
South Park, it's back! permlink
Posted on: March 26, 2009 4:21 AM, by Razib Khan
This weblog has moved
Update your bookmarks:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp
And RSS:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/GeneExpressionBlog
Update your bookmarks:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp
And RSS:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/GeneExpressionBlog
Comments
This was a great episode. It touches on an almost omnipresent kind of error people make in approaching economics: reification of the concept of "the economy." The terrible thing is, after sniffing out this fallacy, the writers have exactly inverted how it is being manifested in popular discussion.
The cheif offender in the promulgation of this fallacy is Keynes' idea of the "paradox of thrift": that although individuals selfishly want to hoard all their money in a downturn, protecting themselves against potential future losses, the right thing to do "for the economy" is to spend, spend, spend.
South Park's MO is to expose the idiocy of various popular, irrational crusades or prejudices. And yet in this episode, they wind up extoling raw, unfounded faith in the sphere economics. They are groping toward the idea that economic activity, confidence in any kind of monetary order, is based on people's expectations that there will be things produced in the future for their money to buy. Of course that is not faith, it is a rational asssessment of human society.
But they have confused this confidence in man's future productivity with what is really an unfounded faith in fiat money. So in order to carry through their thesis they end up endorsing the doctrine that most embodies the fallacy they are trying to pick apart.
Posted by: Eric Dennis | March 26, 2009 2:06 PM
Hilarious! They depicted exactly the solution this administration is using -- put it on the kid's credit card.
Posted by: South Park Republican | March 29, 2009 12:19 AM