I happen to be a big fan of TEDx. For one thing, it is a sort of quasi-civilitic network, allowing people to give freely of their experience while generating a social reputation in the process. But even moreso, many of the presentations have some really excellent content. Collectively, TEDx is a beautiful gift to the world.

One particular TEDx presentation was made by Jodi Beggs at TEDxPublicStreet on January 20, 2013. To her credit, I think Jodi might be about as close to connecting the  civilitics dots as any mainstream economist is likely to be, while still remaining an economist. In her biography, Jodi identifies herself as a hybrid between Steve Levitt, Demetri Martin and Jon Stewart. It is clear that her thinking is motivated as much by ethics as exchange economic dogma. This particular presentation was given at an event with the theme “how people in different fields are using what they know in order to make the world a better place” (her own words). Her presentation is so relevant to civilitics that I could devote several posts to discuss all the material:

• First of all, Jodi points out that economics was once known as the dismal science. The term derives from concerns by nineteenth-century economists that ending slavery would hamper economic progress and plunge the world into a depression. This discussion provides an excellent entry point to discuss the relationship between slavery, economics, and civilitics. This is nothing new, but civilitics brings the discussion of exchange economics, started by Thomas Carlyle in the mid-nineteenth century, to its full circle conclusion, showing how civilitics is to exchange economics what exchange economics was to slavery. In some respects, exchange economics is really just the new slavery. See my detailed discussion at Economics as a dismal science.
• Secondly, Jodi speaks extensively about the music industry, which is apparently her specialty. Here again, she goes so far as to almost touch on civilitic systems of production while not quite seeing the possibility. I have a very good friend who is a singer/songwriter, which has caused me to give considerable thought to how civilitics would work for musicians. While discussing the economics of crowd-sourcing, “pay what you want”, and music sharing, Jodi comes very close to bridging the gap to the civilitic paradigm. See my detailed discussion at Civilitics and the music industry.
• Finally, in passing, Jodi singled out “one pretty famous” economist: Adam Smith. She summarized one of Smith’s basic tenets, saying his “idea of supply and demand of the self-interested producer making things – not because he wants to directly benefit society but because he wants to benefit himself – that actually can be very much in line with doing what’s best for society overall.” Unfortunately, Adam Smith was wrong and Jodi should have emphasize the words “can be” in that quotation.

Over recent years, we have seen many negative consequences of exchange economics. I am encouraged by economists like Jodi who are honestly looking for ways to vision a positive role for economics in the modern world. The effort is honorable and I can imagine how frustrating it must be to really believe in the economic mythology while seeing confronting how it undermines good in the world. I have every expectation that Jodi will be among the first to awaken from the dream (dare I say nightmare?) of the exchange economic machine and realize there is a real alternative within our reach.