[MD] Science Wars

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Craig]
Not quite.  A "market" is a reflection of the values of those who 
participate, whether or not these accord with the values of the culture.

[Arlo]
Well, I'd say a "market" is more an amalgamation, hence a reflection 
more of cultural values than of any one not in accord. For example, 
many hold the value that guns should not be readily traded on the 
market (in America). And yet the broader cultural value holds they 
should. And so they are. The buying and selling of arms within the 
market reflects a larger cultural value. Interestingly, on the same 
topic, the "black market" in illegal arms and those oft-spoken 
"WMD's" is similarly reflective. The "market" doesn't distinguish 
between the two, the values that society adheres to regulate the 
market is what differentiates the black market from the stock market.

Of course, the larger any system is conceptualized, the less precise 
one's comments on it are. The "market" in your local hometown 
evidences a better approximation of the values of the people in your 
town than large scale analysis of market patterns at the national or 
global level. Of course, even in your small-town there will be 
disagreement on market structures. Here in State College there is an 
ever-present conflict between those who seek to regulate adult-bars 
to the distant outskirts of the county, and those who feel that such 
regulations on the market are unfairly used to manipulate market 
interests (proven fact that people, no matter how boob-crazed they 
are, will reach a point where the drive prevents them from going, and 
distance is only one such regulatory device).

[Craig]
Of course, society can constrain markets to make them less free.

[Arlo]
Can. Does. And should. The question is about excessive regulation, 
prohibitive regulations, how much, when and why. As I said, 
"copyright" is in fact an in intellectual constraining of the market. 
As is the illegality of trading large scale arms. As are laws 
demanding Spirits Shops to be a certain distance from school grounds 
(same for nude bars). As is the ban on pot and other illegal 
substances. Indeed, the ban on human slavery is an intellectual 
constraining of the market. Minimum wage. Disclosure of contents. 
Workplace safety laws. Hell, even the very fact that we have public 
land set aside that can not be mined or forested is a constraint on 
the market. Constraints on the market are not ipso facto "evil". 
Often they are "good" and derive as a response to "evil". Just ask 
the Appalachian miners in the late 1800's.