Very quickly, however, it became apparent that what was really getting his critics riled up was this concept of the economy locking itself in to an unpredictable outcome. If the world can organize itself into many, many possible patterns, they asked, and if the pattern it finally chooses is a historical accident, then how can you predict anything? And if you can’t predict anything, then how can what you’re doing be called science? Arthur had to admit that was a good question. Economists had long ago gotten the idea that their field had to be as “scientific” as physics, meaning that everything
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