Capitalism and Evolution

[Lawrelia]

Yesterday, both my government teacher and my biology teacher said that Capitalism is to Economics as Evolution is to Biology. I thought it was interesting that they both said this without any prompting.

My question is, is it true?

I have to go to school now, otherwise I would debate this all day. It will be interesting to see where this goes when I get back.

[Cabra West]

Only if you completely disregard humanity in all its aspects.

[Kantria]

So... capitalism is the process by which the economy changes over time, whether for good or for ill?

[Barringtonia]

I suspect dinosaurs might have a point of view on that.

Regardless of whether the comparison is apt, and I don't think so, evolution often goes down dead ends, and I suspect the entrenched societal belief in capitalism in the US is being mistakenly equated to the idea of survival of the fittest.

Personally, knowing about Pandas, I don't think survival of the fittest encompasses all of evolution, it's an aspect of competition but it can just as much accelerate disaster for a species as it improves.

Economics as a whole in terms of the distribution of money might be equivalent to evolution, though I don't think that's true either, but capitalism is a mere species.

[Dododecapod]

It's nonsense. Capitalism is the most efficient method of distributing goods and services and increasing general wealth we have SO FAR come up with. It's an economic practice, no more and no less. Economics is the study of methods of distribution of goods and services.

Evolution is the overriding mechanism in which biology occurs.

If anything, the equivalent of economics is evolution, and biology would be capitalism. He got them around the wrong way.

[Bottle]

Yesterday, both my government teacher and my biology teacher said that Capitalism is to Economics as Evolution is to Biology. I thought it was interesting that they both said this without any prompting.

My question is, is it true?

No.

[Manango]

Yes it is true. It is a system that seems to work, however there are deniers, who believe that God did it and claim that the people who agree with capitalists are just religious nuts and that there is no proof that it actually works well.

It is the "evolution" theory of economics. Most economists like it. Some nuts don't. Usually nuts who know nothing about economics/biology as it so happens.

[North Avayu]

Depends on what they want to say whit this statement. If it has the meaning of "both are widely accepted theories in their field, but no the only idea", then they are right.
If they mean "Capitalism is the way a market evolves", then they are wrong. Capitalism is a system we use to explain and control the economy, not something natural.
Just to clarify, I don't think there are any other really feasible theories other than evolution and capitalism.

[Kamsaki]

There is a parallel - namely, that they're both about competition (for resources/genetic dominance), both are fundamentally normative but amoral (ie; not focused essentially on the well-being of individuals and competitors), neither seems to be won by the more talented or interesting participants (bankers earn more than engineers, Tigers die out while Sheep thrive), and both seem to still be around, despite the fact that technological innovation should have rendered them both redundant by now.

[Meoton]

Define capitalism and tell me if that definition is actually practiced in the world today?
We do not have a true and pure free market economy anywhere on the globe today.
Get rid of the artificial constructs called corporations and let individual businesses and persons compete individually, then we'll talk.

[United Marktoria]

Yesterday, both my government teacher and my biology teacher said that Capitalism is to Economics as Evolution is to Biology. I thought it was interesting that they both said this without any prompting.

My question is, is it true?

I have to go to school now, otherwise I would debate this all day. It will be interesting to see where this goes when I get back.

You should confront your government teacher, and inform him/her that NSG disagrees.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

Why is there not a lolwut option?

[My 3rd Floor Flat]

No.

Evolution is too random and sublimely complex to be compared to something as a capitalist system which is determined not by random factors but by corporations with aims to acheive something.

As a vague simile then yes you could say so; but it ignores the fundamental aspects and workings of a complicated system.

As a teacher in training however I can see why your teachers made the comparison, it works, provided you only understand it to the level you are going to learn it at school.

[Tagmatium]

As a teacher in training however I can see why your teachers made the comparison, it works, provided you only understand it to the level you are going to learn it at school.

Lies-to-Children

[My 3rd Floor Flat]

Yes it is true. It is a system that seems to work, however there are deniers, who believe that God did it and claim that the people who agree with capitalists are just religious nuts and that there is no proof that it actually works well.

It is the "evolution" theory of economics. Most economists like it. Some nuts don't. Usually nuts who know nothing about economics/biology as it so happens.

Does this mean you don't know enough about either biology or economics to know it's not true

[My 3rd Floor Flat]

As a teacher in training however I can see why your teachers made the comparison, it works, provided you only understand it to the level you are going to learn it at school.

Lies-to-Children

Exactly.

For those of you not out of Secondary School yet you may be interested to know that everything you learn in your science GCSE's is WRONG except for use as a vague metaphor for the actual correct subject.

[Ifreann]

As a teacher in training however I can see why your teachers made the comparison, it works, provided you only understand it to the level you are going to learn it at school.

Lies-to-Children

Exactly.

For those of you not out of Secondary School yet you may be interested to know that everything you learn in your science GCSE's is WRONG except for use as a vague metaphor for the actual correct subject.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... ToChildren
See: The Real Life section.

[Ashmoria]

Yesterday, both my government teacher and my biology teacher said that Capitalism is to Economics as Evolution is to Biology. I thought it was interesting that they both said this without any prompting.

My question is, is it true?

I have to go to school now, otherwise I would debate this all day. It will be interesting to see where this goes when I get back.

i suppose she is talking about "survival of the fittest" which is a popular view of how both things work.

[Alancar]

Yesterday, both my government teacher and my biology teacher said that Capitalism is to Economics as Evolution is to Biology. I thought it was interesting that they both said this without any prompting.

My question is, is it true?

It would helpful if you could elaborate...

[Meoton]

Yesterday, both my government teacher and my biology teacher said that Capitalism is to Economics as Evolution is to Biology. I thought it was interesting that they both said this without any prompting.

My question is, is it true?

I have to go to school now, otherwise I would debate this all day. It will be interesting to see where this goes when I get back.

i suppose she is talking about "survival of the fittest" which is a popular view of how both things work.

"where it ends usually depends on where you start."

[Totally Kicking Ass]

They're both wrong and they are probably just parroting something they heard on talk radio commuting to work.

I assume that where they are seeing the similarity is in the idea of the "invisible hand" of capitalism. The idea being that if you step back and let the markets regulate themselves they will reach a state of equilibrium and that good ideas will replace bad ones through direct competition. On the surface this sounds kind of like survival of the fittest but it really isn't. Evolution is not goal oriented and Economics isn't a proper science. Economics is more like a branch of philosophy. In that branch it competes with other economic theories, like communism, socialism, feudalism, gangsterism etc all attempting to most accurately predict the behavior of people in the marketplace. In biology evolution is The Theory. Biology is evolution.

[My 3rd Floor Flat]

As a teacher in training however I can see why your teachers made the comparison, it works, provided you only understand it to the level you are going to learn it at school.

Lies-to-Children

Exactly.

For those of you not out of Secondary School yet you may be interested to know that everything you learn in your science GCSE's is WRONG except for use as a vague metaphor for the actual correct subject.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... ToChildren
See: The Real Life section.

Haha, how true ^^

[Hydesland]

In theory, it makes sense. Firms that are unable to adapt to the market and societies demands efficiently enough die out, and are replaced by other more efficient (or 'fitter') firms. Why is this so controversial?

[Hydesland]

Economics is more like a branch of philosophy.

Not really, I don't understand why people say this. It 'evolved' out of a whole mix of different areas of study, such as applied mathematics, accounting and commerce, politics and governance, psychology, philosophy etc...

[Hydesland]

There is a parallel - namely, that they're both about competition (for resources/genetic dominance), both are fundamentally normative but amoral (ie; not focused essentially on the well-being of individuals and competitors), neither seems to be won by the more talented or interesting participants (bankers earn more than engineers, Tigers die out while Sheep thrive), and both seem to still be around, despite the fact that technological innovation should have rendered them both redundant by now.

Yes^^ Everybody look at this post!