Money Wisdom #24

"Possession is a universal domain, that is, any human language can be expected to have conventionalised expressions for it"

Bernard Heine Possession: Cognitive Sources, Forces, and Grammaticalization  (1997) p.1

A Review of Presence of the Past by Rupert Sheldrake

I had a familiarity with Sheldrake's ideas prior to reading Presence of the Past, gained in the main through his and other websites. I'd also read 'Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home' which I have to say I didn't really enjoy. Sheldrake ideas are fascinating but I found 'Dogs' somewhat repetitive and whilst some of the stories are interesting they served to illustrate the constraints of a mechanistic understanding of phenomena rather than to elucidate Sheldrake's theories.The same can be said for 'Presence of the Past', however in terms of the depth of coverage and the explanation of ideas it is far superior.

I find Sheldrake's writing a little variable. For example, his discussion of the philosophy of science is very well written. He clearly explains complex ideas and shows their limitations without being dismissive. The weakness in his writing comes when he discusses his own theories. He seems to tag them on as an afterthought. I found myself wanting him to put a bit more meat on the bones of his theories and to worry a little less about appearing as an observer who seeks evidence one way or the other to confirm or deny his hypothesis. Personally, I'd prefer him to write with belief rather than detachment.

Having not been hugely positive about the book, I must say I do have a great admiration for Sheldrake. This is partly why I've given 4 stars. The main reason for the score though, is that despite its flaws the book does point towards a new way of understanding reality. That's no small thing. I have the Science Delusion sitting on my shelf and will read that shortly, but I expect that to really get tune into Sheldrake's morphic field I'm going to have to read 'A New Science of Life'.

This review is on Amazon here. I should also mention that I read this book on a Kindle which was ok but I'd have preferred the hard cover, and I bought the paperback version as a present for my daughter. She's studying Maths at Uni and I wanted to give her something to challenge philosophy of science perspective that the University will espouse.

Money Wisdom #23

"Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon with them, but they are the money of fools".

Thomas Hobbes quoted in Bynum et al (1981) p.300

from Rupert Sheldrake The Presence of the Past (2011)  l.1863 (Kindle)

Post about Posts

I've been bombarded by tweets & emails begging me to publish my latest essay. Not really.

I do feel some perverse sense of duty to get it out there though, mainly due to the fact that I've said several times that its on its way. However, its my work, and its my decision. And I really don't want to put anything out there about money that I'm not totally happy with. There are a couple of problems with the essay. Firstly, it seems to be turning into a much longer piece. It does appear to have a natural flow - which is a very good thing - and to curtail it just to satisfy my desire to get a bit of feedback seems wrong. Secondly, I'm switching a little between audiences. One minute I'm writing for an academic audience, the next I'm writing for the general reader. I don't think its a fatal error, but its one I want to get fixed in the first 10K words.

The essay is an exposition of my peculiar view of money - which pretty much sums up most of what I write about money - but for the first time, I've set it in an historical/evolutionary context and it seems to work for me. Seems like an obvious thing to do, and its surprising that I've not done it before. I have managed to find the hard copies of the work I did on this about ten years ago - about 60-70K words in all - which I'll re-read. In fact, I may publish some of this in the meantime. Or I may just put out bit-size chunks of my new piece. I certainly intend to put more out there this year than I have in previous years. It would be nice to get some momentum going.

I also intend to write a few of my poetic pieces. I use the term very loosely, of course. I get a sense of satisfaction from doing these. Its nice to let go of the fear of how people might interpret what I say. 'Price is to Money, as Weight is to Gravity' for example gets across so much of what I think about Money, but its not a phrase that would sit too well in an essay without several chapters of explanation. Sometimes its nice to just let them slip into people's consciousness and see what happens. My shorter pieces give me the chance to do this.

So the general idea is more posts about money - more book reviews, more short pieces, some extended pieces - and less posts like this. The blogger's curse. Posts about posts. Yuck.

A Review of 'Priceless' by William Poundstone

As a twitter buddy of mine pointed out, with a name like Bill Poundstone you'd be destined to write this book. It's an easy read with plenty of interesting anecdotes which serve to highlight Poundstone's exposition of behavioural economics as it relates to pricing. Brief histories of the personalities involved in the subject helped to sustain my interest; experimental design is important, but it can be a little dull reading about it.

I'm a money freak - history, philosophy, sociology of money - so I approached the book from this perspective. However, I think it would be of interest to the business reader, the academic or indeed the general reader. It gives the reader an insight into the techniques that can be used to set - and achieve - a price. Poundstone shows that what we think about price very much depends on context. On its own, the understanding of the power of anchoring - a bid/offer that sets context for and influences how you'll feel about a price- will repay you the cost of the book.

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year to You

I just want open up the new year with a brief miscellaneous post.

I've been feeling a little frustrated with my job. Apologies for the odd moan on twitter. I shouldn't feel sorry for myself. I've been a lot more productive with my money stuff in 2011 than I was in 2010, and that's what I'm really concerned about. When I take into account holidays etc, my current job pays pretty much the same as the tour managing. There's not the same kudos, of course. But when I'm at home I can completely forget about my job, that was never the case with the music industry stuff.

I feel like I've taken a good leap forward in 2011 with my Owning & Owing essay - even though its not finished. I look forward to putting it out there. I feel like it might have given me a new structure to explore my ideas about money. I'll admit that at times in 2011 I have thought I should really attempt to go into academia via a PHD or something. I faced a choice in 2000 about whether to continue into post-graduate studies at the LSE, or do something more interesting ;) I'm sure some may say that my current occupation would indicate that I made the wrong choice. But I don't have any regrets about that. In some ways I wish that I'd just done the van driving 5 years ago rather than getting involved with the music industry.

The other problem with academia for me is that my ideas about money are really odd. I had one Professor tell me that my ideas were 'plainly crazy'. Fair enough. But then neo-classical economics is 'clearly wrong', so who knows, 'crazy' might be closer to the truth ! At the end of the day, what I want to do is explore my ideas about money, academia (or any other job) has to be a means to that, not an end in itself. Sounds a bit arrogant and self indulgent when I put it like that, but that's how it is, I'm afraid.

So all that is a long winded way of saying what most people say at the start of a New Year - I want to be more productive this year. With both my kids moving out off to Uni, who knows I might just do it.

Money Wisdom #22

"Whatever has value in our world now does not have value in itself, according to its nature - nature is always value-less, but has been given value at some time, as a present - and it was we who gave and bestowed it."

Friedrich Nietzsche The Gay Science (1882:301)

A Bit of Christmas Wisdom

I'd thought I'd share this little bit of wisdom with you. You're unlikely to have come across it unless you're a money freak like me because it comes from Theodore Caplow's 1984 paper Rule enforcement without visible means: Christmas Gift Giving in Middletown which was originally published in American Journal of Sociology 89:1306-23. I came across it in James Carrier's excellent Gifts and Commodities - Exchange & Western Capitalism since 1700. Are you ready for this?

Women are particularly resentful of oversized items that seem to say that the giver perceives them as "fat".

 Theodore Caplow (1984: 1314) 

You can keep your Higgs Boson, this is the sort of thing we need to know.

Anyways, to briefly update you, I'm still working on my Owning & Owing piece. Its turned from and extended blog post into something more like an essay.

Have a Merry Christmas!

To Forgive is Divine - Money Burning 23/10/11

I want you to do this.

I want you to take a £10, £20 or £50 note, or more if you can afford it. And burn it.

If you want to perpetuate poverty, if you like the idea of rich and poor, then give it to charity. 

If you want change, burn it.

This is what actually happens when you burn your cash.

By destroying your paper currency you lose your claim to its value. The debt it represents still exists, recorded in the ledgers of the Bank of England (or whoever else issues it). Burning the note says you’re not collecting the debt.

By burning the note you are forgiving your debtors.

If this seems a little counter-intuitive to you, allow me to give you a very brief history of the Bank of England.

Towards the end of the 1600’s, King William III’s war against France was proving very costly. A Scot, William Patterson thought of a way to raise more money. He reckoned that £1.2 million could be obtained from subscribers to the idea of a ‘Bank of England’. This money could be given over as a loan to help fight the war. In return an interest rate of 8% would be paid from taxes. So, having raised £1.2 million in just a few weeks, the Bank of England was duly formed on 27th July 1694. The bank issued notes to its depositors. If you put £100 in, you had a note saying so. That note also said that anyone presenting it to the bank would be redeemed in gold or coinage. So if you owed someone £100, you could sign your £100 deposit note over to your creditor. He'd accept the note in payment because he’d have faith in the bank’s ability to pay. After all, the bank lent most of its money to the King, and the King had to be good for it. Eventually these notes became the money that I want you to burn.

By the way, the King's debt from 1694, has never been repaid. Every burnt, lost and never found, or other-wise destroyed item of live currency has alleviated a little of the debt burden. Destroying currency is literally offering forgiveness. So when someone says that making a charitable donation is the best thing you can do with your money, you know that's not true. You may think charity is a virtue but you know that to forgive is divine.

Nevertheless, despite the historical evidence, and despite the logic, some will see your burning as a selfish act. Their reasoning is simply this; with the cash you've burned you could have put food on the plate of a starving person. This is true. But its true for every penny that you spend, as well as the cash you burn.

The difference is of course that for every penny you spend you get something in return, whether you're donating to charity or splashing out on a luxury. Even when you tuck £20 into your niece or nephew's birthday card, you want something back. It might just be a ‘thank you’, but you still expect a return on your money. You still expect a little interest. You may be reluctant to accept this now. See how you feel after your sacrifice.

There is only one pure gift you can give and that is to burn your money. Those who set themselves against your sacrifice are really only saying one thing, “why don’t you give it to me?”

On the 23rd of October 2011 I released the Bank of England from the promise made in notes EE45 406557 and HD02 163519 to each pay the sum of ten pounds sterling to the bearer. These notes will never be presented for payment. This is my fourth year of offering money burning sacrifice.

The most important thing about it, is that I know what it feels like.

You can too. Change comes through people doing things they've never done before. Burn your money.

Give us each day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone who

is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.

Luke 11:2-4

Money Wisdom #21

"..money seems to be the most frequent and convenient axis on which millenarian movements turn."

Kenelm Burridge New Heaven, New Earth (1969) p.146