Review: Envisioning Real Utopias by Erik Olin Wright

This article is a review of Erik Olin Wright’s 2010 book Envisioning Real Utopias. The review focuses on certain topics such as his understanding of ‘capitalism,’ his conception of worker cooperatives, and the general issues surrounding markets, the Left, and Marxism

Logical Entropy: Introduction to Classical and Quantum Logical Information theory

Logical information theory is the quantitative version of the logic of partitions just as logical probability theory is the quantitative version of the dual Boolean logic of subsets. The resulting notion of information is about distinctions, differences and distinguishability and is formalized using the distinctions of a partition. All the definitions of simple, joint, conditional and mutual entropy of Shannon information theory are derived by a uniform transformation from the corresponding definitions at the logical level. The purpose of this paper is to give the direct generalization to quantum logical information theory that similarly focuses on the pairs of eigenstates distinguished by an observable, i.e., qudits of an observable. The fundamental theorem for quantum logical entropy and measurement establishes a direct quantitative connection between the increase in quantum logical entropy due to a projective measurement and the eigenstates that are distinguished by the measurement. Both the classical and quantum versions of logical entropy have simple interpretations as “two-draw” probabilities for distinctions. The conclusion is that quantum logical entropy is the simple and natural notion of information for quantum information theory focusing on the distinguishing of quantum states

Brain functors: A mathematical model for intentional perception and action

Category theory has foundational importance because it provides conceptual lenses to characterize what is important and universal in mathematics—with adjunctions being the primary lens. If adjunctions are so important in mathematics, then perhaps they will isolate concepts of some importance in the empirical sciences. But the applications of adjunctions have been hampered by an overly restrictive formulation that avoids heteromorphisms or hets. By reformulating an adjunction using hets, it is split into two parts, a left and a right semiadjunction. Semiadjunctions (essentially a formulation of universal mapping properties using hets) can then be combined in a new way to define the notion of a brain functor that provides an abstract model of the intentionality of perception and action (as opposed to the passive reception of sense-data or the reflex generation of behavior)

Helping people help themselves - toward a theory of autonomy-compatible help

If development is seen basically as autonomous self-development, then there is a subtle paradox in the whole notion of development assistance: How can an outside party ("helper") assist those undertaking autonomous activities (the"doers") without overriding, or undercutting their autonomy? This conundrum is the challenge facing a theory of autonomy-compatible development assistance - that is, helping theory. Starting from a simple model of non-distortionary aid, the author explores several themes of a broader helping theory, and shows how these themes arise in the work of"gurus"in different fields - John Dewey in pedagogy and social philosophy, Douglas McGregor in management theory, Carl Rogers in psychotherapy, Soren Kierkegaard in spiritual counseling, Saul Alinsky in community organizing, Paulo Freire in community education, and Albert Hirschman, and E.F. Schumacher in economic development. That such diverse thinkers in such different fields, arrive at very similar conclusions, increases confidence in the common principles. The points of commonality are summarized as follows: 1) Help must start from the present situation of the doers. 2) Helpers must see the situation through the eyes of the doers. 3) Help cannot be imposed on the doers, as that directly violates their autonomy. 4) Nor can doers receive help as a benevolent gift, as that increases dependency. 5) Doers must be in the driver seat. One major application of helping theory is to the problems of knowledge-based development assistance. The standard approach is that the helper, a knowledge-based development agency, has the"answers", and disseminates them to the doers. This corresponds to the standard teacher-centered pedagogy. The alternative under helping theory is the learner-centered approach. The teacher plays the role of midwife, catalyst, and facilitator, building learning capacity in the learner-doers, so that they can learn from any source, including their own experience. Development assistance is further complicated by the local, or tacit nature of much relevant knowledge. A knowledge-based development agency might function better, not simply as a source of knowledge, but as a broker connecting those who face problems with those in similar situations, who have learned to address the problems. Changing to the approach of helping theory, entails changing the helping agency itself, transforming it into an organization that fosters learning internally, as well as externally - as in a university, where professors engage in learning, and foster learning in students, but the organization does not adopt official views on the complex questions of the day. This means fostering competition in the marketplace of ideas within the organization, and taking a more Socratic stance with clients, who will then have to take responsibility for, and have ownership of their decisions.Economic Theory&Research,Decentralization,Health Economics&Finance,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,Labor Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Educational Sciences,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness

Hirschmanian themes of social learning and change

Many development strategies assume (or desperately hope) that a country already has the capacity to plan and implement institutional reform or that such institutional reform can be pushed through with the external pressures of aid and conditionalities. In a decentralized reform strategy, developmental change is induced not by government fiat but by releasing and channeling local energies in smaller projects that will in due course spread through links, learning, imitation, and benchmarking. A"Christmas tree"of conditionalities hung on an adjustment loan is generally ineffective in getting a country to develop"ownership"of reform or in generating sustainable change. Development agencies need to work toward client governments genuine commitment to policy reform rather than believe that they can"buy"such commitment with aid money. But how does a country get from here to there? Here is where the Hirschmanian notion of unbalanced growth can be"rediscovered."A country that has already developed a"good policy environment"is like a country that can implement the"balanced growth plans"of the earlier debate. Such a country would be well on its way to development. When the central government lacks such a capability, the Hirschmanian approach is to look for"hidden rationalities"in small areas or on the periphery and then help the small beginnings to spread--using, where possible, the natural pressures of linkages. Rather than try to put all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together at once to make it look like the picture on the box, one starts in the small areas where the pieces are starting to fit together and builds outward, using the links between the pieces. the author shows several authors arriving at a similar strategy from different starting points. Similar ideas underlie the Japanese system of just-in-time production based on inventory, local problemsolving, benchmarking, and continuous improvement: Charles Lindblom's theory of incrementalism and muddling through; Donald Schon and Everett Rogers's treatment of decentralized social learning; and Charles Sabel's theory of learning by monitoring.Educational Sciences,ICT Policy and Strategies,Public Health Promotion,Enterprise Development&Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Educational Sciences,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies

The indirect approach

Aid and conditionalities are the"carrots and sticks"of the conventional, direct approach to fostering economic development. The economic theory of agency is the most sophisticated treatment of the direct carrots-and-sticks approach to influencing human behavior. Considering the outcomes of the conventional approach, it might be worthwhile to explore alternative indirect approaches that focus on enabling clients to act more autonomously, rather than try for fuller control of clients'actions (or"agents"behaviors) with improved carrots and sticks. Are there inherent limitations in the direct approach that will not be addressed with better crafted"agency contracts"or closer monitoring of the agents? The author traces the intellectual history of indirect approaches from Socrates to modern thinkers, such as Wittgenstein, Gandhi, and McGregor. One theme of his survey is that constructivist and active-learning pedagogies constitute an indirect approach in which the teacher does not directly transmit knowledge to the learner, through training, and instruction. These pedagogies - translated into social and economic development as learning writ large - from the basis for an alternative indirect approach to fostering development. Actions have motives, just as beliefs have grounds, concludes the author. In the wide spectrum of human endeavor, there is only a fairly small"bandwidth"in which motives can be supplied by the carrots, and sticks of the direct approach (including agency theory, and market-driven activities as special cases of the direct approach to affecting behavior). Outside that spectrum, trying to use direct methods in a controlling manner, contradicts the motives for actions (and the grounds for beliefs) - like trying to"buy love."For higher activities, motives must come from within. Helpers can at best use an indirect approach to bring doers to the threshold; the doers have to do the rest, which makes the results their own.Public Health Promotion,Teaching and Learning,Curriculum&Instruction,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Educational Sciences,Educational Sciences,Teaching and Learning,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,General Technology,Curriculum&Instruction