Scarcity's Ways: The Origins of Capital [electronic resource] : A Critical Essay on Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics and Economics / by Michael S. Macrakis
invoking the fluctuation-dissipation theorems of Einstein and 2 more recently those of Callen and Kubo in order to get to manageable results. In this manner, great strides have been made in the development of the many-body problem without reaching the necessity to legitimize thermodynamics. Therยญ modynamics and statistical mechanics were used successfulยญ ly as bridges and guides to get the new ideas to conform to the macroscopic experiences (measurements). Hence the disยญ 3 interest of theoreticians. The frustration in attracting the atยญ tention of the working physicists on this problem is vividly described in Carnap's (1978) account on the reception of his ideas and efforts at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Prinยญ ceton where he worked on the Two Essays on Entropy; it alยญ most amounted, he thought, to a conspiracy of silence. The priorities of theoretical physicists remain with the puzzles and the cranking at hand: Quantum Field Theory (QFT) and "creation and annihilation" physics, solid state physics, - to mention only a few research areas - command the attention of those working on the research frontiers. Thermodynamics is taken for granted and is thought to be an almost depleted research area. Whatever the subterfuges, the hand-waving arguments, the paedagogical red herrings, the procedures work and nothing can be gained by allocating intellectual reยญ sources to resolve ambiguities with few, if any, expected rewards. Down deep, all believe that the regularization of the field will one day be accomplished
CONTENT
I Preface & Introduction -- II Economics -- III Biology -- IV Thermodynamics (??CS), Statistical Mechanics, and Capital -- V Thermodynamics (??CS), Work, and Capital -- VI Summary and Conclusions -- VII Appendices -- VIII Bibliography
