[ExI] Don't be evil

[Stefano Vaj]

2010/3/23 Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com>
> And this brings up a more general point. It's not markets that do things. It's people. People act and when they interact voluntarily, markets are what we might see -- though markets are hardly the only form of voluntary interaction. When they interact involuntarily -- i.e., coercively -- what we see is statism or some form of one person or group abusing another person or group.

Just for the sake of discussion, there are no involuntary behaviours
in the theory. A threat, going from the displeasure of your clients, a
diminished sense of righteousness,  or a good chance somebody putting
a bullet in your head, is simply a factor in your optimisation choice.

Of course, all the paradox of the theory is that in its strong form is
always true, but becomes non-falsifiable and so incapable of
prediction (every choice can be justified in term of "extended
rationality" after the fact). In its weak form, where self-interest is
taken to mean short-term monetary gain, it is simply false, because
nobody really complies at best with their best interest, or even what
they perceive as it.

--
Stefano Vaj