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Introduction

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Energy, Complexity and Wealth Maximization

Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection ((FRONTCOLL))

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Abstract

What, then, is the connection between energy, complexity and wealth? That will take some explaining, because the idea of complexity may be simply confusing (too complex?) while energy is neither money nor wealth, at least, not in any simple sense. Here I think it is appropriate to refer to a book I have found interesting, though I disagree profoundly with its key message. That book is More Heat Than Light by Philip Mirowski (Mirowski 1989). What I disagree is with his interpretation of the history of science. In his own words on p. 99:

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Reference

  • Mirowski, Philip. 1989. More heat than light: Economics as social physics; physics as nature’s economics. In Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics, edited by Craufurd D. Goodwin. paperback ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Reprint, 1999.

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Ayres, R. (2016). Introduction. In: Energy, Complexity and Wealth Maximization. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30545-5_1

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