On free-market ideology, faith in technology, and other contemporary religions:
Religion is everywhere in this world. Economics, politics, and science are rife with religion.
No, I'm not talking about John Ashcroft's brand of Christian fundamentalism. "Religion" is simply any belief in something without the backing of stone solid scientific proof. Any such belief is an act of faith.
Mind you, I'm not dissing such faith. Life and love cannot exist without it. But an awareness of the ubiquity of religious faith sheds a different light on the workings of worldly affairs.
In particular, beliefs about the future are religion.
If you produce a predictive model based on relevant facts and hypotheses, and you trust that that model gives you a reasonable guide to future events, you are practicing science.
But whenever you really believe that the predicted events will occur, you are practicing religion. You are being guided by faith. Often, ideologies are built on a foundation of such faith.
Thus, when IMF bankers believe that a recipe of fiscal austerity, liberalized trade and capital markets, and privatization will improve the lot of developing countries, they are practicing their religion.
If you believe that advances in technology will save us from global warming and the draining of the earth's fossil fuels, you are practicing your religion.
None of this is to say you are right or wrong in your belief. It is just to say that you have found a rock of assurance in something that cannot be shown to actually exist.
Those who advocate, legislate, or issue orders guided by such beliefs are practicing religious ideology. A dark confirmation of the religious quality of such ideology is the way in which decision-maker-believers sometimes seek to hereticize those who do not share their belief.
Religion is everywhere in this world. Economics, politics, and science are rife with religion.
No, I'm not talking about John Ashcroft's brand of Christian fundamentalism. "Religion" is simply any belief in something without the backing of stone solid scientific proof. Any such belief is an act of faith.
Mind you, I'm not dissing such faith. Life and love cannot exist without it. But an awareness of the ubiquity of religious faith sheds a different light on the workings of worldly affairs.
In particular, beliefs about the future are religion.
If you produce a predictive model based on relevant facts and hypotheses, and you trust that that model gives you a reasonable guide to future events, you are practicing science.
But whenever you really believe that the predicted events will occur, you are practicing religion. You are being guided by faith. Often, ideologies are built on a foundation of such faith.
Thus, when IMF bankers believe that a recipe of fiscal austerity, liberalized trade and capital markets, and privatization will improve the lot of developing countries, they are practicing their religion.
If you believe that advances in technology will save us from global warming and the draining of the earth's fossil fuels, you are practicing your religion.
None of this is to say you are right or wrong in your belief. It is just to say that you have found a rock of assurance in something that cannot be shown to actually exist.
Those who advocate, legislate, or issue orders guided by such beliefs are practicing religious ideology. A dark confirmation of the religious quality of such ideology is the way in which decision-maker-believers sometimes seek to hereticize those who do not share their belief.