The Invisible Hand of Dharma Part 5: Two Hands

In the previous post, we defined the Invisible Hand in The Wealth of Nations (WN) and The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) as having four main factors and one factor related to economics:

1. Belief in a Supreme Being, which may or may not be the same as the Christian ‘God’ depending on one’s definition
2. A Principle of Self-Motion (Self-Interest or Lack of Sympathy)
3. Human Communication
4. Sympathy, manifesting as the ability to make agreements and promises
5. Production = Consumption or Revenue

However, the non-sympathy in the Principle of Self-Motion obviously contradicts the sympathy needed for employment and trade. We explain that the difference is complementary, not contradictory, and is a necessary effect of the duality of the universe.

Explanation 1A (Main):

To do that, we first need to define the invisible hand by bringing up its third idea as explained by Smith, in red color:

Hence the origin of Polytheism and superstition which ascribes all the irregular events of nature to the favour or displeasure of intelligent, invisible beings, to gods, demons, witches, genies, and fairies. In all Polytheistic religions, among savages and in the early ages of Heathen antiquity, only the irregular events of nature are ascribed to the agency and power of their gods. By the necessity of their own nature: fire burns, water refreshes, heavy bodies descend, lighter substances fly upwards. The invisible hand of Jupiter was never perceived in those matters. But the more irregular events were ascribed to Jupiter’s favour or anger: storms and sunshine, thunder and lightning. Savages only knew the designing power of man. Man stops or changes the course of natural events. They imagined those other intelligent beings, were naturally supposed: to act in the same way, to not support the ordinary course of things, which went on of its own accord, to stop, thwart, and disturb the ordinary course of things. Thus, in the first ages of the world, the lowest and most cowardly superstition supplied the place of philosophy. (Simple Essays, Origin of Philosophy)

Its basic ideas are:

Red idea : Early man thought that the gods were like himself, who would only cause, through an invisible hand, the irregular events of nature, not the regular ones.   

Sea green: Regular physics follows its own nature.

In a nutshell, early men wrongly thought that the acting principles behind the irregular events of nature were different from those behind the regular ones.

Explanation 1B (Supporting)

Nowadays, thanks to scientific advancement which explains physical laws such as gravity, pressure, thermodynamics, etc., we know that the principles behind the irregular events are the same as the regular ones. Early men could not make the connection because of ignorance arising from a difficult life, but eventually could make the connection, thanks to law and the original principle of wonder:

But when law has established order and security, and subsistence ceases to be precarious: Mankind’s curiosity of mankind is increased, and their fears are reduced. They enjoy leisure which renders them: more attentive to the appearances of nature, more observant of her smallest irregularities, and more desirous to know the chain which links them all together.. Their imagination easily and delightfully accompanies the regular progress of nature. It is stopped and embarrassed by those seeming incoherences which excite their wonder, and seem to require some chain of intermediate events. By connecting those events with past events, the whole course of the universe may be rendered consistent and of a piece. Wonder, therefore, and not any expectation of advantage from its discoveries, is the first principle which prompts mankind to the study of Philosophy. It is the science which pretends to open the concealed connections that unite nature’s various appearances. Man pursues this study for its own sake, as an original pleasure or good in itself, without regarding its tendency to procure them the means of many other pleasures. (Simple Essays)

Thanks to wonder, the invisible hand or inherent principles which cause natural physical phenomena, coming from a non-Polytheistic Supreme Being, could be known. We thus add the principle of wonder to our previous graphic of the invisible hand:

We also create a graphic for the invisible hand of physical phenomena:

But the question arises: Why are there two invisible hands? What is the Invisible Hand in the first place? Why couldn’t Smith just use the word nature for inherent principles and say human nature to describe the dynamics of human behavior and physical nature to describe that of physics? 

The Ambiguity and Insufficiency of the word ‘Nature’

This is because the word ‘nature’ lacks the ability to convey the many smaller ideas that are carried by the word ‘invisible hand’. For one thing, ‘nature’ does not carry with it an idea of a Supreme Being. David Hume defines nature as something common, non-miraculous, or non-man-made. Even the current definition of ‘nature’ has no reference to a Supreme Entity. We do not pray to ‘Mother Nature’ for prosperity, for example, because we know the idea represented by Mother Nature is not the same as the idea of an all-knowing and all-caring Providence.

The word ‘invisible hand’, however, automatically implies an idea of an invisible, omnipresent, all-knowing entity that is actively operating on all phenomena in the universe, leading to a certain end or effect. Thus, we can say that the Supreme Being is the cause which works through an invisible hand or means to produce a certain effect in the universe. We can also say that the invention of the word ‘invisible hand’, with its ideas, is Smith’s contribution to Western philosophy just as the use of the word ‘ego’ was a contribution by Freud. However, the problem with the invisible hand is that Smith did not define it fully. Instead, he just saw it and described it, without exploring it in detail, as to give a better definition. This lack of definition led to its misinterpretation and misunderstanding, and here raises the question why there are two invisible hands.

To clear up all misunderstandings about it, and put its explanation beyond all doubt, we look to Eastern Philosophy*, originating from India, which is much older than Western Philosophy and thus has not only also seen the invisible hand, but has also studied it in detail, allowing us to define it conclusively in the next post.

In fact, in examining the ideas of Western philosophers such as Hume, Smith, Marx, and Mill. I have used Eastern Philosophy as the expert judge, to see which ideas would lead to inconsistency or fallacy, and which ones would be solid enough to be regarded as part of a universal truth, able to stand the test of time and space.

Bullet-Style Writing

The advent of the internet allowed information to be shared globally, resulting in information overload.  However, this increase in the quantity of information being perceived did not really come from new information, but instead came from already-existing information from various sources being made accessible to the user or perceiver.

Assuming that there are 100 million people in a country, and a person creates his own information and interacts with 100 people in a day, then he can perceive up to 100 units of information. But through a nationwide internet-like system, he can perceive up to 100 million units of information from everyone in his country, of lesser quality. Assuming his brain can handle 100 units and a max of 1,000 units of info, he will naturally be overwhelmed by 100 million. Since brain and mind* cannot change drastically overnight or even in a few years, the information must be made more efficient and be reduced to fit into human limitations. If each information can be reduced to 0.00001, or be grouped into 100 or 1,000 units, then at max capacity, the person can still accommodate all the info from his countrymen.

* The nature of the brain as a physical entity is different from the nature of the mind as a metaphysical entity

Since information in its recorded form most usually manifests as something written, then the style of writing can be optimized to adapt to the increased amount of information.  This can be done by breaking down complex ideas into basic ones, and grouping similar or contiguous ideas*, as described by David Hume.  For example, we implement Hume’s metaphysical ideas in re-organizing a news article on Yahoo, to make understanding it faster and easier:

* Following the maxim that all ideas are connected

Positive Response

I’ve posted the above article on social media and so far most have preferred bullet style as more convenient and quicker for comprehension. This style of organizing information will be implemented in the data model of the Non-Arbitrary Resource Allocation or NARA, (a multilateral barter trading system) to make its information system more efficient, more scalable, and to make it easier for APIs to manipulate. I experienced the need for efficient information while working as IT support for a major investment bank wherein the traders on the trading floor needed access to news in order to make the correct bets or trades ahead of others. Leaner information also makes it less expensive for NARA to be implemented in slower computers or in countries that have slower internet.

Ideas As Quanta, Information As Commodities

A major advantage of Socio-economic science is that it is ultimately based on metaphysics, specifically that system of study explained by David Hume, unlike Economics which is based on math. Since math only measures things that already exist, it has no creative ability, just as a computer program cannot create new programs or even create solutions for its own problems (i.e. fix itself). In turn, this helps explain why Economics is, has, and will be, unable to conclusively solve economic problems.

During the planning for the socio-economic system which we called Non-Arbitrary Resource Allocation (NARA), one of the biggest considerations is the treatment of data. Should data be charged? To whom does data belong to? Should data and information be treated in the same way?

The policies for data use and storage in NARA will be solid and correct, if it matches the real nature of data and information, which are all merely physical forms of ideas. Therefore, the policy for a piece of data or information must match the nature of idea, which in turn is the expertise of the metaphysician (a socio-economist must know something about metaphysics and mathematics, or the liberal arts and the practical arts, representing a balance between the subjective and objective parts of dualistic existence, with the subjective or liberal arts or feelings, being the foundation of the objective or practical arts or intellect).

The Finite Divisibility of Everything

In the Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume explains that ideas are separable, and since space and time are ideas, then they are separable, but not infinitely. Ideas, and space and time only seem infinitely divisible because the imagination has a tendency to immediately connect ideas.

“all different ideas are separable.”

“It is certain then, that time, as it exists, must be composed of indivisible moments.”

“The ideas of space and time finally resolve themselves into indivisible parts. These indivisible parts are nothing in themselves.”

Here, Hume explains that everything in its true form is nothing, which is consistent with Eastern philosophy, specifically as sunyata. We use Eastern philosophy to check and verify the maxims of Western philosophers, since the East has studied metaphysics much longer and thus has advanced much further than the West, as proven by the many religions that have originated in India, which are of a very different nature from the religions that sprung from the Middle East, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

	Objective	Subjective
Forms	Ideas (Mind)	Impression (Senses, Feelings)
Nature	Can Be Isolated or put in quanta and analyzed	Cannot be isolated nor analyzed
Examples	“1”, “Adam”, “car”	“love”, “happiness”, “pain”
Studied by	Science and Technology	Philosophy, psychology, humanities

Idea As A Quantum

But our interest here is not the ultimate nature of reality, but the nature of ideas for use as data in information technology. For this purpose, we establish the idea that basic ideas individually are a quantum*. Thus, we call a basic idea as a quantum of idea just as there is a quantum of light, and a quantum of space, and a quantum of time. We then apply that as a quantum of data which then makes up the quantum of information.

* Quantum is defined as the smallest amount that can exist independently.

However, unlike the quanta in physics, our purpose of ‘quanta’-fication is not for comparison or computation, but for isolation, in order to prevent the natural tendency of the mind to readily connect ideas. Once isolated, then it can be put into different scenarios or observed in various ways. For example, in designing our trading system, we distinguish the data from the quantum of data, and information from the quantum of information.

• Quantum of Data1: 5
• Quantum of Data2: rice
• Data1 (set): 5, 10, 15
• Data2 (set): rice, wheat, oats
• Quantum of Information: 5 tons of rice
• Information: 5 tons of rice from XYZ company
• Compound Information: 5 tons of rice from XYZ company was delivered to ABC company on Jan 1, 2015 at 8am.

From here, we can say that ownership of ideas begins at the quantum of information-level, not on the data level since data by itself makes no sense. Since ownership of information is established, then we can isolate it as a commodity, not to establish its buying and selling, but so that we can treat it just like other physical commodities, so that its physical nature can be studied, just as Smith treats people as a commodity for the purpose of studying population and labor trends:

The demand for men, like that for any other commodity, necessarily regulates the production of men. (WN, Book 1, Chap. 8)

The trading of information occurs in real life, because there is a supply and demand for it

Likewise, the study of the supply and demand for information, as a commodity, will be useful for those working in IT so that they can properly plan the hardware for such information, just as governments study population trends to be able to plan building roads, power plants, etc. It can be also useful for setting up limitations on information use in software and servers. Lastly, it can refine the laws on information. All of these considerations form the information policy of our proposed system.