29 August 2013

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

Has anyone noticed that Boeing continues to make a considerable amount of money shifting the 737? Today's announcement:
7:46AM Boeing statement on WestJet's intent to purchase 65 737 MAX airplanes (BA) 103.27 : Co is "delighted" that WestJet has entered into a letter of intent to purchase 65 737 MAX airplanes, consisting of 40 737 MAX 8s and 25 737 MAX 7s. The pending order is valued at $6.3 bln at current list prices.

Could it be that the laws of physics are so well known, not about to change any time soon, and determine that a nearly 50 year old airframe is the best Newton has to offer? Is it any wonder that The Best and The Brightest go on to use their quant skills to play dice with the economy? Could it be that there are limits to what we can know? We can't know that which Mother Nature has not done. We really can't create our own reality. We still require air, water, and carbon. Gravity will always be with us. Sub-atomic physics will always be probabilistic. The (natural) periodic table is complete. And so on. Unlike the 19th century, so beloved by wingnuts, there was a lot (perhaps most, in total) about Mother Nature we were still learning. And turning that learning into economic activity. As we approach (if we haven't arrived) the limits of ferreting out Mother Nature's scheme of things, how do we drive economic activity? Finding petroleum or uranium won't happen again. And, they ain't more like them. Mother Nature has showed us so.

Are we doomed to a spiral of The Great Recession? Are we doomed to a world of economic activity connived from morphing human rules of behaviour? Rather than building a wholly new widget from newly discovered Unobtainium, we play out our lives building, or gaming, ever more elaborate accounting schemes? Instead of Einstein being the hero, it's Ponzi?

Have a happy morning.

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