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251

Planning by whom and for what? The battle for control from the Soviet Union to Walmart

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terms
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notes

Hughes, B. (2016). Planning by whom and for what? The battle for control from the Soviet Union to Walmart. In Hughes, B. The Bleeding Edge: Why Technology Turns Toxic in an Unequal World. New Internationalist, pp. 251-279

263

Centrally planned economies now dominate the world economy, but instead of having 'Socialist Republic' after their names, they have 'Inc' and 'plc': they are massively centralized, commercial hierarchies, and this has happened without much discussion of their feasibility or otherwise.

—p.263 by Bob Hughes 7 years, 2 months ago

Centrally planned economies now dominate the world economy, but instead of having 'Socialist Republic' after their names, they have 'Inc' and 'plc': they are massively centralized, commercial hierarchies, and this has happened without much discussion of their feasibility or otherwise.

—p.263 by Bob Hughes 7 years, 2 months ago

(noun plural but singular in construction) the science of communication and control theory that is concerned especially with the comparative study of automatic control systems (as the nervous system and brain and mechanical-electrical communication systems)

271

It was Wiener who coined the word 'cybernetics' from the ancient Greek word for a helmsman: kybernetes

—p.271 by Bob Hughes
notable
7 years, 2 months ago

It was Wiener who coined the word 'cybernetics' from the ancient Greek word for a helmsman: kybernetes

—p.271 by Bob Hughes
notable
7 years, 2 months ago
275

Under 'business as usual', however, managements are less concerned with discharging an organization's avowed purpose (providing nutritious food, easy transport between A and B, warmth, comfort, and so on) than with discharging their responsibilities to shareholders (to provide healthy dividends and an ever-rising share price) or to themselves (to maintain their careers on a constantly rising trajectory and their children at private schools). Such organizations are simply not equipped to tackle their alleged aims, but Ashby's law decrees that the discrepancy between claim and reality must be made up somehow. [...]

by "shouting", basically

—p.275 by Bob Hughes 7 years, 2 months ago

Under 'business as usual', however, managements are less concerned with discharging an organization's avowed purpose (providing nutritious food, easy transport between A and B, warmth, comfort, and so on) than with discharging their responsibilities to shareholders (to provide healthy dividends and an ever-rising share price) or to themselves (to maintain their careers on a constantly rising trajectory and their children at private schools). Such organizations are simply not equipped to tackle their alleged aims, but Ashby's law decrees that the discrepancy between claim and reality must be made up somehow. [...]

by "shouting", basically

—p.275 by Bob Hughes 7 years, 2 months ago