eric@snark.uu.net (Eric S. Raymond) (06/01/90)
In <76700221@p.cs.uiuc.edu> gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu wrote: > What are the answers to these questions? > > 1. Who is Adam Smith? The founder of political economics (some would say the founder of economics period). His major work, _The_Wealth_Of_Nations_, was the first to describe and advocate what would now be called free-enterprise capitalism. It was first published in 1776, I think. > 2. What is so important about his hand? > 3. Why is his hand invisible? There's a famous quote from _The_Wealth_Of_Nations_ describing the action of the market as being like an invisible hand, directing persons through their own selfish interest to act in ways which produce cooperation and benefits to society at large. > Thanks. I cannot understand that string of messages concerning Adam > Smith. These messages were discussing the ways in which market pressure (the invisible hand) has driven the evolution of the microprocessor. -- Eric S. Raymond = ...!uunet!snark!eric (mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)