The God of the Machine - Tranche 39
Chapter XVIII, Excerpt 3 of 3
Why Real Money is Indispensable
The most dangerous fallacy which has been put forward recently pretends to find an argument in the German war gamble. Germany is “winning the war because it has been fighting with an industrial and engineering economy,” while Allies “have been fighting with a money, or financial economy.” Described as “taking the heavy financial boot off the brakes and letting the productive machinery run free . . . liberated machines will always beat liberated money.”
Mental savagery is again evident. The idea is nonsense. A machine cannot be enslaved or liberated; the terms apply only to human beings. All the resources that Germany is using were produced by a money economy. Resources were embezzled . . . it was the actions of governments elsewhere which enabled Germany to embezzle on such an extensive scale. Also in Russia, the machinery had to be supplied from money economies elsewhere and paid for in gold.
No group, as a group, has any intelligence. All intelligence is in individuals. Under state ownership, what engineers and labor can accomplish is to build ponderous masses of rock. Money is the means by which individuals can be brought together in free cooperation on large, productive enterprises. Money is the only means by which machinery can be invented or used at all. Private property, money, freedom, engineering, and industry are all one system. When one element is taken out, the rest must collapse.
Why Real Money is Indispensable
The most dangerous fallacy which has been put forward recently pretends to find an argument in the German war gamble. Germany is “winning the war because it has been fighting with an industrial and engineering economy,” while Allies “have been fighting with a money, or financial economy.” Described as “taking the heavy financial boot off the brakes and letting the productive machinery run free . . . liberated machines will always beat liberated money.”
Mental savagery is again evident. The idea is nonsense. A machine cannot be enslaved or liberated; the terms apply only to human beings. All the resources that Germany is using were produced by a money economy. Resources were embezzled . . . it was the actions of governments elsewhere which enabled Germany to embezzle on such an extensive scale. Also in Russia, the machinery had to be supplied from money economies elsewhere and paid for in gold.
No group, as a group, has any intelligence. All intelligence is in individuals. Under state ownership, what engineers and labor can accomplish is to build ponderous masses of rock. Money is the means by which individuals can be brought together in free cooperation on large, productive enterprises. Money is the only means by which machinery can be invented or used at all. Private property, money, freedom, engineering, and industry are all one system. When one element is taken out, the rest must collapse.
Determinists do not grow up. They reach adulthood sincerely believing that the failure of their ideas in practice does not lie within themselves, but, rather, is caused by the combination of stupid People and inflexible Natural Laws. The dream never ends. If only I/we were in complete charge of everything and everybody, life on Earth would be perfect. Utopia finally achieved!
Logically more precise.
The parallel with today's EVs is obvious. The first EVs (anybody remember CitiCars?) were little more than golf carts. Now we are at the point where they are baubles for the rich. Eventually, I think they could be practical for specific purposes, such as a car for commuting or running errands around town. Longer road trips? Not so sure.
A major difference is that at the dawn of the automobile, the government wasn't threatening to outlaw horses.