The JPS campaign, as detailed in the About the Show page, is about promoting libertarianism with special focus on free-tech-based growth and survival.  This is a rhetorically militant campaign, within the larger general conflict between Nerds and Ludds which has been going on continuously since the first tools were invented.  Skip to the end for the Call to Nerd Arms.

There are two imperatives with characterize the JPS Nerd advocacy:  The Free-Tech Imperative, and the Growth Imperative.  These imperatives are preconditions for continued improvement of Human Survivability.  The simple models of Nerd advocacy are:

N1.  Human Survivability = Growth X Freedom(detail)

N2.  Growth = positive change in wealth

N3.  Wealth = Revenue - Costs (detail)

Ludds usually do not dispute N2 or N3, but they have trouble with N1.  Here's the Nerd logic:

- Both growth and freedom are needed to improve survivability, due to the vast complexity of meeting all humans' basic needs efficiently enough to leave each human spare time to develop a specialty in providing a good or service that some number of humans need (read Hayek's Road to Serfdom for detailed articulation). 

- The free market, and free-tech policies within it, enables relatively high efficiency in meeting needs of each human to reach his/her growth potential.

- Human Survivablility is the aggregation of each individual's survivability, which is dependent on each human's resourcefulness as an economic symbiont (trader of goods and/or services) or a economic parasite (intentional parasites:  thieves, extorters, crooks, "looters and moochers" (Ayn Rand's villians), welfare recipients, unaccountable govt bureaucrats, vandals, rapists, etc.;  unintentional parasites: wards of the state, live-in dependents). 

The obvious Nerd economic ideal is for everyone to be a symbiont, not a parasite.  Since this is impossible, the Nerd practical ideal is for everyone who is currently an intentional parasite to get religion and convert to symbiosis, and make it a win-win world.  The Ludds have other ideas.  Parasitism is the gateway to dependency, the precondition of economic and cultural control over society, which is their goal.

The Ludd Philosophy is utopian:  Human Survivability = Equality X Safety

Ludds advocate restricting or banning unfavored technologies as a strategy to achieve egalitarian goals of "social equality".  Forcing equality of outcome is a socialist imperative that Ludds often cite, though not all Ludds are socialists, and vice versa.  So how do we classify Ludds?

What Ludds desire is the seizure of industrial decision making processes, which is a key tenet of fascism.  The egalitarian ideal is a Marxist objective, so Ludds are a special brand of Marxists.  They use essentially class-warfare arguments in pitting alleged victims of industrial malfeasance against the industries that allegedly caused individual harm.  Ludds also use exaggerated safety concerns as a tool to turn people against industry, force control away from companies, and give it to the government.

What follows is an analytical breakdown of Freedom and Growth.  These investigations are intended to show the sensitivity of growth to impingements on freedom in the techno-economic system. 

This is a libertarian thing.  It's like the 36 terms Eskimos have for snow.  Libbers need to break down freedom to solidify their positions in practicality.

Total Freedom = Physical Freedom X Social Freedom

where

Physical Freedom is the opportunity to collect and use food, drink, and materials needed for survival and the pursuit of (physical and psychological)happiness.

Social Freedom is the opportunity to interact with other people to obtain happiness.

Notice the multiplicity.  Physical Freedom alone is like the guy stranded on a deserted island.  Plenty of physical freedom, but without social freedom, he will likely lose his life or his mind.  So total freedom is effectively nil.  Similarly, the totalitarian society restricts physical freedom, and constrains social freedom, so the effective total freedom is miniscule.

To the Nerd, Social Freedom is rightly EARNED by trading acts which bring others happiness for opportunities to obtain happiness for one's self.

To the Ludd, Social Freedom and happiness are ALLOCATED by elite government agents empowered to judge whom should receive freedom and happiness, based on arbitrary self-aggrandizing models of which persons are most likely to support the continued holding of the office by the agents granting the freedom and happiness.   This is not cynicism.  It is a very real corruption that Ludds actively engage in on a daily basis in the drafting of nanny laws, regulations, and bans.  Follow the money, as Bob Woodward would enjoin.

Social Freedom = Economic Freedom (Fe) + Religious Freedom (Fr) + Property Freedom (Fp) + Speech Freedom (Fs) + Assembly Freedom (Fa)

In private life, modern countries protect these social freedoms by constitutional law.  Where it gets interesting is in the realms of private and public EMPLOYMENT.  Within these legal arrangments are the battleground of the Nerd-Ludd wars:

In modern private enterprise, social freedoms/powers are EARNED, though often the earning assessment is unscientific, and the freedoms are ALLOCATED.  The freedoms in private enterprise are constrained by policy and terminable by at-will agreement with employees.  So if you don't like how your boss micromanages your reports, get another job. Or transfer.  No legal restraint on that.  Possibly contractual penalties, but nothing forces you to remain in poor employment.

In public service, social freedoms/powers are by written policy earned, but in practice, government's tendency towards unaccountability means that freedom/power is often allocated without measurable earning rationale.  The "rationale" is more political than meritorious in a professional sense.  The governing official appoints people he thinks will solidify his hold on office, and feather his nest upon leaving office.  Again, cycnicism is warranted by evidence of the revolving door in congress to lobbying firms with high salaries (case in point, Billy Tauzin).

Economic Freedom, Fe = Technological Freedom (Ft) X Market Freedom (Fm) X Intellectual Property Freedom (Fip)

where Ft is the freedom to create, buy, and sell technologies without unreasonable restriction.  This freedom is the core focus of the JPS, aka "free-tech".

where Fm is the freedom to promote and sell competing products/services in an open market, free of intimidation, extortion, and any other false constraint on trade

where Fip is the intellectual property right to trade an innovative technology or brand or written creation for a reasonable period of time without infringement by close copying of the product's or service's key innovative features.

This model was developed from research into the main factors behind economic growth.  Solow and Romer were influential growth economists in this research, and of course Smith, Hayek, von Mises, Friedman, and Sowell were influential general free market economists. 

The purpose of the model is to inform analysis on technical policy from a growth perspective.  My belief is that economic growth is the primary means of survival of the species, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.  Many Ludds have disagreed with me on this, preferring to think of survival to be more likely if government takes technologies away from ordinary citizens.  I concede that yes, if the wrong people gain control of the US nuclear arsenal, then survival would bethreatended.  But barring that, free markets with free but reasonably safe use of technology will lead to growth, which will increase our survival chances greatly.  The environment both sustains us and threatens us.  Monsoons still kill thousands of Bangladeshis every year because they have poor economic policies which keep the people poor and defenseless against storms.  But rich cities in the US can be destroyed by meteors, mutated viruses, volcanoes, unexpected solar storms, or tsumanis.  We need more growth, and more technology, as much as we can sustain in a stable manner, to defend against future cataclysms.

Growth

Growth = G = dW/dt,

the change in wealth over time.  Wealth is not purely monetary, so the JPS term "shwealth" was coined to include security and health with liquid assets to comprise a fungible aggregation of prosperity that directly relates to Survivability.

"Shwealth"

where W = shwealth (security, health and wealth) = Revenue (R) - Costs (C);  aka "Profit"

and R = S X D x Ci x Zs x Dvp x V x E x P x N

where S = Security, D = Demand, Ci = Invested Capital, Zs = Seller Productivity, Dvp = Product Diversability,  V = Transport Rate, E = Excludability Coefficient, P = Price, N = Units Sold

So  G = d[(S X D x Ci x Zs x Dvp x V x E x P x N) - C] /dt 

Security

S = Si + Sc + Sp  (Investment Security, Capital Security, Personnel Security)  (Note: Security is the inverse of Risk.  Rule of Law increases security, and lowers regulatory costs.  > A bribe is a regulatory cost.)

Demand

D = U + J – P

where   U = Utility, J = Jollies, P = Price

"Jollies" is the cute replacement for the intangible economic term "marginal utility".  I give credit to my cowboy hat wearing professor of economics at the University of Idaho, Dr. John T. Wenders, for the coining of "jollies".

   Utility

   U = M x B x T x Pf x A x O x Sv x Zu x Zp

   (Modelability, Buildability, Testability, Performance, Acceptability, Operability, Serviceability, User Productivity, Product Productivity) …

   the 1^st 3 are of less concern to the user than to the producer, but Pf, A, O, S are user selling points.  M, B, and T are systems engineering terms credited to Wayne Wymore in his tome only a Nerd can love: "Model-Based Systems Engineering", 1993.

Seller Productivity

Zs = Zw x Zt

where Zw = Worker Productivity, and  Zt = Tool Productivity (hardware and software) 

   Worker Productivity

   Zw = K x Ztw x Zwc x Iqw (knowledge x tool productivity while worker attends x qualified worker i/o info created)

   K = product knowledge (includes outsourced knowledge), Iq = Qualified Product Information,

   K = Kt + Ki

   Kt = K - Iqw = tacit product knowledge

   Ki = informational knowledge, ideas that can be expressed symbolically

   Iq = information that the firm considers authoritative, qualified by evidence

   Iq = Iqt + Iqw (tool i/o info + worker i/o info)

   I = Iq + Iu (total info = qualified info plus unqualified info)

   Zwc = worker info conversion productivity – knowledge conversion (K to I, I to K), and info conversion (I to Iq, I to Iw, I to It, Iw to Iqw, Iqw to Iqt, Iqt to Iqw, It to Iqt).   This is the knowledge worker function.

   Tool Productivity

   Zt = Zta x Ztw x Iqt   (automated productivity times tool productivity while worker attends times qualified tool info)

   Zt and Zw can only be measured in aggregate, a large before-after study of overall Z change after adding a particular tool, b/c workers interact with tools by converting Iqw to Iqt and back, and even automated tools have human enablement and Iq conversions that are difficult to separate.

   User Productivity

   Zu = Ku x Zuc x Zpu x Iqu (user knowledge, user info conversion productivity, product productivity with user attending, qualified user i/o info)

   Product Productivity

   Zp = Zpa x Zpu x Iqp  (automated product productivity, product productivity with user attending, qualified product i/o info)…

   Zp is a selling point. 

 Product Diversability 

Dvp = dPr/dt, rate of product offering proliferation = sum of dTk/dt

   Pr = total number of product offerings

   dTk/dt is the rate of diversification of a technology, = sum of dDn/dt (rate of increase in design features) + sum of dFn/dt (rate of increase in product functions)

   Chris Anderson's book, The Long Tail, details the recent acceleration of product offerings thru the use of internet marketing and sales.

Excludability Coefficient

   E =1 : perfectly excludable, no spillover, unstealable IP or hardware;  E = 0 : unexcludable by any known means 

Substituting:

W = shwealth (security, health and wealth) =(S X D x Ci x Zs x Dvp x V x E x P x N) - C

= [S x ( U + J – P) x Ci x (Zw x Zt) x Dvp x E x P x V x N) – C]

= {[ (Si + Sc + Sp) x ( M x B x T x A x O x Sv x Zu x Zp) + J – P] x Ci x [(K x Ztw x Zwc x Iqw) x (Zta x Ztw x Iqt x Zd)] x Dvp x E x P x V x N] – C}

= { (Si + Sc + Sp) x [( M x B x T x A x O x Sv x (Ku x Zuc x Zpu x Iqu) x (Zpa x Zpu x Iqp)) + J – P] x Ci x [((Kt + Ki) x Ztw x Zwc x Iqw) x (Zta x Ztw x Iqt x Zd)] x Dvp x E x P x V x N] – C}

W = { (Si + Sc + Sp) x [( M x B x T x A x O x Sv x (Ku x Zuc x Zpu^2 x Iqu) x (Zpa  x Iqp)) + J – P] x Ci x [((Kt + Ki) x Ztw^2 x Zwc x Iqw) x (Zta x Iqt x Zd)] x Dvp x E x P x V x N] – C}

and economic growth G = dW/dt, rate of positive change in aggregate shwealth

Notice the following:

1. The growth function is an exponential one by nature, with so many multiplying variables.  But that is also its weakness.  If any one factor goes to zero, growth stops.  The single greatest threat to these factors is government.  By decree, government could, and has in many places, zeroed out Security, or Excludability (no property rights) or Capital investment (socialism).  More commonly, government hampers productivity and increases costs with excessive regulation, fixes prices, which distorts demand, or artificially raises excludability by protecting certain industries which have bought influence.

2. Zpu and Ztw terms square in the U term, indicating that the human-machine production relationship has a virtuous cycle that gives rise to exponential economic growth.

3. Dvp and V are infrastructural technology factors that also help the exponential nature of growth.

4. I have tried to factor in intellectual property by use of the excludability factor E (a Romer-inspired device).  The ideal E factor is not a constant.  Our IP law grants high E in the first 17 years of product life, in the case of patents, then E drops when the patent expires.  Too low E will discourage Ci, too high E will reduce Dvp (an externality).

This general formulation is bounded to a single firm and a single product, and uses scalar factors for simplicity, and assumes perfect competition.  Without perfect competition, there is a de-rating factor on Dvp.  With no competition, there is no incentive to increase Z (or even have it non-zero), and no incentive to reduce P or minimize C.  The formula is bounded to a single firm, and a single product, but obviously it is scalable to multiple productions, partnered firms, or supply chains.  Also, spillover external knowledge is assumed to create a positive externality, in effect increasing other firms' Ki, and inhibiting monopoly.

My analytical basis of Ludd criticism is that they reduce Growth because they try to:

1. Reduce Demand, D, thru misinformation and regulating usage

2. Reduce Seller Productivity, Zs, thru labor regulation, and banning technolgies and materials which reduces Zs options

3. Control Prices, P, by regulation and fiat (hold down for "poor" consumers, hold up for favored producers)

4. Restrict transport rate, V, by excessive regulation

5. Reduce Units Sold, N, by inventory/distribution regulation

6. Increase C and reduce Ic by all manner of regulation, taxation, crime, and fiat.  A pernicious effect of currently ambiguous IP law and policy, which Ludds from both left and right take harmful advantage of, is that IP security cost becomes unpredictable and uncontrollable, and therefore deters investment, esp. at small biz levels.  We see this with piracy technologies, infringement disputes, and poor performance by regulators like USPTO, FCC, DOE, etc. to consider IP issues when "reforming".

CALLTO NERD ARMS

The JPS campaign is dedicated to defending Ludd incursions on Growth and Survivability by attacking Ludd proposals and Ludd laws as they emerge in the press.  It'a media war, and is limited by that forum in effectiveness.  It is up to creators and practicioners of all techs to defend their tech freedoms against the Ludd menace in a pre-emptive manner:

1. Get intelligence on Ludd schemes, and prepare countermeasures before they are launched publicly.

2. Go public early in some cases to expose Ludd infiltrations and intentions.

3. Covertly disrupt Ludd operations by infiltrating Ludd organizations and tracking and interrupting Ludd funding.

This is war.   Treat it like one.  We all depend on you Nerds to make things, but we also depend on you to detect attacks before they materialize, and call for help if needed.  The JPS is one forum, but there are many that will serve.  Go Tech!

to be continued,

Joey Panto