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From: esk@wucs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: measuring VS? comparing freedom
Message-ID: <507@wucs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 25-Nov-84 14:45:22 EST
Article-I.D.: wucs.507
Posted: Sun Nov 25 14:45:22 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 26-Nov-84 07:55:14 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis, CS Dept.
Lines: 37

[reply to frog!tdh as quoted by inmet!nrh]

>***** inmet:net.politics / frog!tdh / [quote taken from article by nrh]
>>>I have, of course, exaggerated here to make a point: it is difficult,
>>>probably impossible, to measure the "net gain" or "net loss" of freedom.
>							[nrh]
>>Then it is also impossible to say that such govt. activity would lower
>>freedom. ...						[pvt]
>
>It is typical of the mathematical but pseudo-scientific approach taken by
>many economists and their followers 

Blow it out your tailpipe.

>					that measurement is confounded with
>evaluation.  I can say that this light is brighter than that light without
>being able to measure either the brightness of either or the difference
>between the brightnesses of both.  But in case one is willing to argue that
>a crude form of measurement is being used in making that judgement, there
>are numerous examples where a comparison is made without measurement being
>involved.						David Hudson
						
Fine.  SO??  I don't know who you think you're arguing against, nrh@inmet 
or myself, but either way I don't see a whole lot of relevance to the point.
nrh@inmet says that one can't say that a government interference increases
net freedom.  I pointed out that in that case, one can't say it *lowers* net
freedom either.  If your comparison-of-brightness example were analogous 
in that one could compare amounts of freedom in a like manner, then nrh's 
statement above would be wrong.  Is that your point?  Are you trying to say
that while we can't *measure* net changes in freedom we can still *compare*
amounts of freedom?

Your original article did not arrive here; all I saw was what nrh@inmet
quoted.  Maybe I missed something?
				  --Paul V Torek, ihnp4!wucs!wucec1!pvt1047
Please send any mail directly to this address, not the sender's.  Thanks.