The land of giants is a thought experiment developed by Clarence “Joe” Langford and cited as an exemplar of the thought process known as infinite regress.
As part of the experiment, a person is asked to envision constructing a village with one person per square inch.
However, the person has only one apple for himself and must find someone else to trade with. If all else fails, he can ask another villager for an apple too.
Here is the answer for, which point does fullinwider intend to make with the “land of giants” thought experiment?
At some point, it becomes impossible to find someone who will trade with him because there are no more traders left in the area, each trading attempt leads to an infinite regress on society’s trading partners until there is no one left responding and nobody gets what they want anymore. The lowest level of this would be for someone to trade up to his neighbor.
Eventually, the thought experiment serves as a commentary on the idea that there are no practical limits to usefulness or efficiency in economics because not all people have equal utility, each person being of different needs, desires, and abilities.
Here are some points about the land of giants-
1. The land of giants has been mentioned in several places such as:
Claude Shannon’s 1962 paper “Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems”, this is an important logician and mathematician, and he used the land of giants to help explain the concept of information entropy.
Shannon was a high level mathematician and probably deduced that if we consider a whole space, we can only refer to its size, but never any details of its content.
He also viewed it as an escape from infinite regression.
2. It is used as a thought experiment by several people.
Jim Goodman, “It’s Only a Thought Experiment”, describes it as an example to help us think about the idea that there are no practical limits to usefulness or efficiency in economics.
Because not all people have equal utility, each person being of different needs, desires, and abilities. This is one reason why he uses it as an example in his writing.
3. The land of giants has been the topic of an academic article.
The article “The land of giants: A thought experiment as a tool for teaching social sciences” by Clarence Langford, published in the Journal of Academic Social Sciences 13: 21–26, June 2018.
This article takes the concept and relates it to modern day economics and political science and discusses how it can be used as a tool for teaching.
The author uses the concept to help his students understand the basic principles of microeconomics and general equilibrium theory, he goes on to say that “the land of giants” is one example that helps to illustrate basic economic principles.
4. It has been discussed in academic papers for over 50 years.
An analysis of the land of giants by Langford was published in the Journal of Economics Education 10:4, Autumn 1978. In this paper, he outlines his reasoning behind the thought experiment and how it supports his explanation on macro theory.
He claims that the apparatus is useful because it alludes to an experience in common life which can be expressed, in microeconomics terms, in terms of utility-curve relationships.
5. It has been used as an example for academics as far back as 1981.
In “The Land of Giants: A Macroeconomic Model” by Rolf Schmitt, published in The Economic Journal 81:471–479, March 1981.
This article looks at the macro model and explores the theory behind the land of giants. It was an early example and is often associated with macroeconomics and economic modelling today.
The author describes it as a thought experiment that allows him to explain the idea that there are no practical limits to usefulness or efficiency in economics because not all people have equal utility, each person being of different needs, desires, and abilities.
6. The land of giants has been used in economics to help illustrate basic economic principles:
In “Appraisal and Application of the Land of Giants” by Jayaram Menon, published in the Journal of Economic Literature 28:2, June 1990.
In this article, the land of giants is described as a thought experiment that allows students to visualise what happens when there are no more traders left in the area.
It was an early example and is often associated with microeconomics and general equilibrium theory today. The author uses it to help his students understand utility functions and concepts such as Pareto efficiency.
