Chapter 17 - Economics is everywhere. After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions: How does Adam Smith’s invisible hand improve technology? What is technological utopia? What will happen with the artificial enhancement of human intelligence? How can we use the invisible hand to strengthen airport security, rehabilitate ex-cons, to catch outlaws, to improve schools, to fulfill quest for knowledge? | Chapter 17 Economics Is Everywhere McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Learning Objectives How does Adam Smith’s invisible hand improve technology? What is technological utopia? What will happen with the artificial enhancement of human intelligence? How can we use the invisible hand to strengthen airport security, rehabilitate ex-cons, to catch outlaws, to improve schools, to fulfill quest for knowledge? What is economics of crime? Why do we give non-monetary gifts? How does the stock market work? How does education provide signal? 17- Markets’ Potential Markets have unlimited potential. Firms, in the selfish quest for profits, keep pushing the technological frontier forward. Adam Smith’s invisible hand constantly pushes companies to find better ways of satisfying customers. Markets coordinate people’s efforts to create products of continually improving value. 17- Technological Utopia A technological utopia might . | Chapter 17 Economics Is Everywhere McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Learning Objectives How does Adam Smith’s invisible hand improve technology? What is technological utopia? What will happen with the artificial enhancement of human intelligence? How can we use the invisible hand to strengthen airport security, rehabilitate ex-cons, to catch outlaws, to improve schools, to fulfill quest for knowledge? What is economics of crime? Why do we give non-monetary gifts? How does the stock market work? How does education provide signal? 17- Markets’ Potential Markets have unlimited potential. Firms, in the selfish quest for profits, keep pushing the technological frontier forward. Adam Smith’s invisible hand constantly pushes companies to find better ways of satisfying customers. Markets coordinate people’s efforts to create products of continually improving value. 17- Technological Utopia A technological utopia might push us past all the limits humanity currently faces. Economics is essentially about decision-making when resources are limited and individuals are forced to make tradeoffs. It might, therefore, make economics as we know it today obsolete. 17- Technological Utopia by 2050 Assumptions: Moore’s Law, . the computing power one can buy for $1,000 doubles every year, will continue to hold at least until 2050. In 2030 a $1,000 personal computer will be as fast as a human brain. In 2050 we will have computer software that simulates human intelligence. So, in 2050 we will have one billion computer-scientists that think a million times faster than human scientists. They would almost certainly figure out how to cure death and give us wealth beyond our imagining. 17- Enhancing Human Intelligence Intelligence drives innovation. In the near future we humans may artificially boost our intelligence. Widespread use of intelligence enhancing drugs could add trillions to the world .
