"This way lies charlatanism and worse. To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm."
— F.A. von Hayek, The Pretence of Knowledge, Nobel lecture, 1974
Hayek accepted the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974 and used the lecture to turn on his own profession. Economics, he argued, had spent decades imitating the methods of the physical sciences and had come to mistake what can be measured for what actually matters.
The passage on this mug is his warning about the consequences. A planner who believes he holds knowledge that is in fact dispersed across millions of people, unspoken and unrecordable, will not merely fail. He will do harm, and he will do it confidently.
Specifications
11 oz ceramic, glossy white finish
Pencil-sketch portrait, printed both sides
Dishwasher and microwave safe
Printed on demand and shipped on fulfillment
Eleven ounces, and a standing reminder of how little anyone knows.
