Hi all,
sometimes it's hard to persuade people with this free market stuff and spontaneous order, so it's good to have examples at hand, the more the better ("Yes, but we made X, Y and Z without any central planning at all!"). What are your examples?
Let's start:
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Consumariat:Aren't these just thing that people have decided to do? Isn't tha the opposite of what we mean by spontaneous in this context?
Religious movements to a certain degree evolved. The fact that most people find jobs is something that nobody plans either. The internet is not controlled or planned by any one person. And the institution of marriage also evolved rather than being planned by design. As for the music industry, I suppose he means that nobody plans what music becomes popular.
Edit: I agree though that when we ask for examples of spontaneous order we usually mean that the order isn't anticipated or desired by anyone.
Obviously you make plans for yourself, you just can't plan for others. Since everybody plans to do what they think is best for them, spontaneus order just happens.
"As for the music industry, I suppose he means that nobody plans what music becomes popular."
I mentioned the music industry because it's not centrally planned, especially the independent scene. There's a agglomeration of artists, venues, studios, promoters, media outlets, designers, etc.., that just somehow "works". Really, it's just like any other industry; I just mentioned it because I've been involved with it for some time now.
But you're right, there's no accounting for taste in the music industry. There's no explanation why some bands/artists "make it" further than others.
Here in the land of 10,000 lakes there is spontaneous order when large numbers of fishermen take their boats to popular lakes.
Like other's have said, the music industry, and also the fashion industry, the literature industry, the automotive industry, etc. Actors seeking ends in these areas find order. They almost unconsciously know the means in which to pursue in order to achieve the ends of, say, a pair of pants, an album, a certain car. This convenience and order of means arose out of entrepreneurs seeking to benefit themselves by meeting the wants of the consumer.
I'd even go as far as saying to look at the "sovereign states" of the world -- even their boundaries and interaction can be said to be ordered spontaneously, as no central government designated them. While libertarians would hardly say any State is "order," their interaction with one another is ordered spontaneously.