KZ: One of Hume’s rivals, not well disposed to favor Hume noted that despite the uncertainty of life Hume wrote and talked about, Mr. Hume found his way each day from his office to the local pub and then to his own front door. Routine and muscle memory as solutions for uncertainty. The simple things are often quite useful in explaining human actions and ideas.

Me: “The simple things are often quite useful in explaining human actions and ideas.”

Indeed, and in the actual operations that accomplish paradigm changes which are also BOTH human reality AND temporal universe changes in certainty by the way.

Like the change from unconsciousness to self awareness, from nomadic existence to homesteading and urbanization, and from ego centric and earth centric cosmology to naturalism and helio-centrism.

Me: “My point is both more mundane and at the same time infinitely expansive.”

An excellent duality….to integrate wisely…with the integratively inclusive mental discipline AKA Wisdom….and the various relevant aspects of the pinnacle natural, philosophical and unitary concept of grace….the reality of which is cosmic.

“In short, Hume was skeptical because he was socialized by a skeptical culture surrounded by cultures that taught certainty (Catholicism, French monarchy, Russian monarchy). Hume is like all of us an actor network. So what he may appear to an outside observer should never be taken at face value. Do more digging.”

Another duality. The answer is both “digging” AND integration of the particles of truths in apparently opposing realities in order to discover and perceive the resulting thirdness greater oneness that is the signature of both wisdom and paradigm change.

Also, one needs to realize that rational/logical analysis for all of its virtues has its limitations, particularly when both sides of the hypothesis has long degenerated into regurgitative orthodoxy and obsessive contentiousness…and so be willing to take the creative leap outside of that dualistic mess.

“That most economists do not excavate indicates to me they are not social scientists. What are they then?”

“That most economists do not excavate indicates to me they are not social scientists. What are they then?”

Believers….and defenders of the “faith.”

KZ: Craig, this is intended as an integration. Much like Calculus. The only way in my view to reveal that integration is to explore it. To excavate it. In this the normal sort of analysis (taking apart) is more likely to take us away from the integrated cultural creations we want to reveal and interpret. In other words, to understand we must integrate like those who created the way of life we are considering. Also, this is not a situation where being a sycophant will help us do the job. One crude way this point is made sometimes is to say we are listening to the data. Broadly speaking that is correct. But the data is complex and not easily grasped. That requires a lot more effort than is usually considered necessary for good social scientific research.

Me: Ken,

Yes I understand this, but #1 macro-economics and neo-liberalism have been excavated 13 billion ways from the middle….and yet #2 we’re still waiting for even heterodox analysts to actually suggest a TRULY integrated difference. There ARE at least several reforms (MMT, Keen’s Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis, Hudson’s Financial Parasitism, the idea of a UBI and Ellen Brown’s Public Banking) and they all circle around the core of the problem which is composed of money, debt and finance.

However, reforms are second order palliatives NOT TRUE INTEGRATIONS. True integrations directly and terminatedly deal with the core problems, and with the new insight and new or re-discovered tool (the monetary policy potential of the point of retail sale and the re-discovery of the monetary importance of double entry bookkeeping) that are signatures of the quintessential integration namely a paradigm change ….accomplish it.

And yes the problem is complex, but the research has already been done on the complexities. Keen’s calculus is revealing, but it in his own words makes one’s eyes glaze over. MMTers have said a billion times taxation’s primary function is providing value to a fiat currency NOT the sole means of funding the government or an adequate means of dealing with inflation. Ellen Brown has written hundreds of articles about the costliness and dominance of private banking. UBI is all the rage.

But virtually nothing has come of these…..because they have not cognited on the breakthrough policy and direct temporal universe operation of 50% discount/rebate monetary policies at retail sale and at loan signing. Once that occurs all of the above reforms which align with but do not execute the new paradigm can be integrated into the overall program and theory.

Remember, embracing complexity is well and good so long as it’s not a death grip, but simplicity, deep simplicity, is the key to understanding wisdom/paradigm changes.