I think you erred saying there is no possible modification.
Nope. But if you tell me that when you say “ideal money” you mean “a system of money that is ideal in the sense of existing merely as an image in the mind”, why then I will adjust my understanding of how you use the phrase. Note that this doesn’t involve any change at all in my general understanding of the word “ideal”, which I already knew sometimes has the particular sense you mention (and sometimes has other senses); what you have told me is how you are using it in this particular compound term.
In any case, this is quite different from how Nash uses the term. If you read his article in the Southern Economic Journal, you will see things like this, in the abstract:
I present [...] a specific proposal about how a system or systems of “ideal money” might be established and employed
(so he is thinking of this as something that can actual happen, not something that by definition exists merely as an image in the mind). Similarly, later on,
the possibilities with regard to actually establishing a norm of money systems that could qualify as “ideal” are dependent on the political circumstances of the world.
(so, again, he is thinking of such systems as potentially actualizable) and, a couple of paragraphs later,
We of Terra could be taught how to have ideal monetary systems if wise and benevolent extraterrestrials were to take us in hand and administer our national money systems [...]
(so he says explicitly it could actually happen if we had the right guidance; note also that he here envisages ideal monetary systems, plural, suggesting that in this instance he isn’t claiming that there’s one true set of value ratios that will necessarily be reached). In between those last two he refers to
“good” or “ideal” money
so he clearly has in mind (not necessarily exclusively) a quite different meaning of “ideal”, namely “perfect” or “flawless”.
you are going to suggest we are not ignoring Nash, but we are.
It doesn’t look much like that for me.
in the future everyone is going to laugh at you all
In the future everyone will have forgotten us all, most likely.
for claiming and pretending to be smart
Do please show me where I either claimed or pretended to be smart. (If you ask my opinion of my intelligence I will tell you, but no such thing has come up in this discussion and I don’t see any reason why it should. If my arguments are good, it doesn’t matter if I’m generally stupid; if my arguments are bad, it doesn’t matter if I’m generally clever.)
she ignored his life’s work, his greatest passion
So far, you have presented no evidence at all that this is a reasonable description. Would you care to remedy that? In any case, what’s relevant right now is not whether “ideal money” was Nash’s greatest passion, but whether it should have been obvious to us that it was (since you are taking the absence of earlier discussion of “ideal money” as indication that LW has been ignoring Nash). And, however hilarious Nash may or may not have found it, I repeat that the fact that a reasonable person writing a fairly lengthy biography of Nash didn’t make a big deal of “ideal money” is strong evidence that other people may reasonably think likewise. Even if we are wrong.
Nope. But if you tell me that when you say “ideal money” you mean “a system of money that is ideal in the sense of existing merely as an image in the mind”, why then I will adjust my understanding of how you use the phrase. Note that this doesn’t involve any change at all in my general understanding of the word “ideal”, which I already knew sometimes has the particular sense you mention (and sometimes has other senses); what you have told me is how you are using it in this particular compound term.
In any case, this is quite different from how Nash uses the term. If you read his article in the Southern Economic Journal, you will see things like this, in the abstract:
(so he is thinking of this as something that can actual happen, not something that by definition exists merely as an image in the mind). Similarly, later on,
(so, again, he is thinking of such systems as potentially actualizable) and, a couple of paragraphs later,
(so he says explicitly it could actually happen if we had the right guidance; note also that he here envisages ideal monetary systems, plural, suggesting that in this instance he isn’t claiming that there’s one true set of value ratios that will necessarily be reached). In between those last two he refers to
so he clearly has in mind (not necessarily exclusively) a quite different meaning of “ideal”, namely “perfect” or “flawless”.
It doesn’t look much like that for me.
In the future everyone will have forgotten us all, most likely.
Do please show me where I either claimed or pretended to be smart. (If you ask my opinion of my intelligence I will tell you, but no such thing has come up in this discussion and I don’t see any reason why it should. If my arguments are good, it doesn’t matter if I’m generally stupid; if my arguments are bad, it doesn’t matter if I’m generally clever.)
So far, you have presented no evidence at all that this is a reasonable description. Would you care to remedy that? In any case, what’s relevant right now is not whether “ideal money” was Nash’s greatest passion, but whether it should have been obvious to us that it was (since you are taking the absence of earlier discussion of “ideal money” as indication that LW has been ignoring Nash). And, however hilarious Nash may or may not have found it, I repeat that the fact that a reasonable person writing a fairly lengthy biography of Nash didn’t make a big deal of “ideal money” is strong evidence that other people may reasonably think likewise. Even if we are wrong.