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Comment by yequalsx | Hacker News Reader

You didn't address any of the points I made. It's like libertarianism. Sounds right at the individual level but it doesn't scale. You also completely ignored price gouging and other factors that distort market forces. You appear to assume all parties have equal bargaining power and pricing power. You are looking at things superficially.

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The only thing there is is individuals transacting with each other. "Society", as an independent entity, is a mirage.

And yes. It probably is like libertarianism. I am a libertarian, and I don't take that as an insult.

"Society" is the dynamics that emerge when groups of humans form settlements and organize themselves together for various purposes (food, safety, enjoyment, etc).

Unsurprisingly, these dynamics differ from those found in isolated, individual humans.

Would you agree that the Nash equilibrium is not identically equal to the global utility optimum? If so, then you almost certainly agree that what is best for an individual actor is not necessarily what is best for Society (all people in a political aggregate) at large.

In plain terms, everyone acting selfishly does not necessarily lead to everyone getting what they need.

I have sympathy for your argument, but there's a small note of confusion. Namely, libertarian economists know a ton of game theory. In fact, I only got into game theory due to reading econ texts by writers I later found to be libertarian-leaning. Wouldn't it be a bit strange if the prisoner's dilemma really was a knockdown argument against their views? Maybe there's more than meets the eye?

https://mises.org/library/price-gouging-saves-lives-hurrican...

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