Cases of Mistaken Identity

In the Fusco brothers comic, there is a dog named Axel. The dog claims to actually be a wolverine. Of course he is a dog but dogs get no respect. So, Axel congers up the notion that he is a wolverine.

Human beings imagine that they are something other than what they are and function based on a false identity. Human beings identify themselves as an anointed species with divine connections. They see themselves as creatures of peace each with intrinsic value deserving of respect and praise. This is fine for maintaining peace of mind in a violent, unpredictable universe.

When it comes to doing research, making predictions and formulating policy, going with the anointed identity generates perpetual string of wrong answers.

In the world outside of family and close friendships, human behavior parallels that of any other species. In Fantasy Free Economics, human beings are not anointed, engage in constant herd behavior and instinctive behavior. There are no special people. World leaders are not worshiped and no special people wear halos. A medical doctor or president gets no more respect than a ditch digger. I am studying behavior plain and simple. Self interest is the basic incentive that drives animals through life. All other incentives, are sub incentives of self interest.

Fantasy free means cleansing the mind of fantasy and euphemisms before making any observations. Good research is not possible when the mind is filled with must be ideas and definitions. Mainstream economists adopt the anointed species approach and treat various people as special. There is no way to come up with anything with any utility to society using this approach. This is why economists as a whole have such a miserable record when dealing with problems. They are studying an animal that only exists in the imagination.

In all honesty, I cannot say that human beings have no spiritual aspect. I will say that it does not seem to be present in day to day interactions among strangers in the secular world. For good research it is best to treat mankind as an animal and get the right answers.

 

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About Fantasy Free Economics

James Quillian independent scholar,free market economist,and teacher of natural law. Who is James Quillian? Certainly I am nobody special, Just a tireless academic and deep thinker. Besides that, I have broken the code with respect to economics and political science. Credentials? Nothing you would be impressed with. I am not a household name. It is hard to become famous writing that virtually no one in the country is genuinely not in touch with reality. But, if I did not do that, there would be no point in my broking the broken the code. If you read the blog, it is easy to see that there are just a few charts, no math and no quantitative analysis. That is not by accident. Given what I know, those items are completely useless. I do turn out to be highly adept at applying natural law. Natural law has predominance over any principles the social science comes up. By virtue of understanding natural law, I can debunk, in just a few sentences , any theory that calls for intervention by a government. My taking the time to understand the ins and outs of Keynes General Theory is about like expecting a chemistry student to completely grasp all that the alchemists of the middle ages thought they understood in efforts to turn base metals into goal. Keynesian theory clearly calls for complete objectivity. Government can only make political decisions. Keynesian techniques call for economic decisions. So, why go any further with that? Fantasy Free Economics is in a sense a lot like technical analysis. Technical analysis began with the premise that it was impossible to gain enough information studying fundamentals to gain a trading advantage. Study the behavior of investors instead. Unlike technical analysis, I don't use technical charts. What I understand are the incentives of different people and entities active in the economics arena. For example, there is no such thing as an incentive to serve with life in the aggregate. In the aggregate, only self interest applies. It is routinely assumed otherwise. That is highly unappealing. But, I am sorry. That is the way it is. I can accept that because I am genuinely in touch with reality. Step one in using Fantasy Free Economics is for me to understand just how little I really know. A highly credentialed economist may know 100 times what I do based on the standard dogma. Compare the knowledge each of us has compared to all there is to know and we both look like we know nothing at all. There is always more than we don't know than what we do know. I am humble enough to present myself on that basis. Why? That is the way it is. I am not bad at math. I have taught math. What I understand is when to use it and when to rely on something else. Math is useless in natural law so I don't use it. While others look at numbers, I am busy understanding the forces in nature that makes their numbers what they are. That gives me a clear advantage.