William Paul Cockshott (born 16 March 1952) is a Scottish

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (a ...

Marxian economist Marxian economics, or the Marxian school of economics, is a heterodox school of political economic thought. Its foundations can be traced back to Karl Marx's critique of political economy. However, unlike critics of political economy, Marxian ec ...

and a reader at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. Since 1993 he has authored multiple works in the tradition of

scientific socialism Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book '' What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...

, most notably '' Towards a New Socialism'' and ''How the World Works''.

Scientific career

Cockshott earned a BA in Economics (1974) from

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, an MSc (1976) in Computer Science from Heriot Watt University and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

in Computer Science from

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

(1982). He has made contributions in the fields of

image compression Image compression is a type of data compression applied to digital images, to reduce their cost for storage or transmission. Algorithms may take advantage of visual perception and the statistical properties of image data to provide superior re ...

3D television 3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, 2D-plus-depth, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D television sets use an ...

, parallel

compilers In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

and

medical imaging Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to re ...

, but became known to a wider audience for his proposals in the multi-disciplinary area of economic computability, most notably as co-author, along the

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, of the book '' Towards a New Socialism'', in which they strongly advocate the use of

cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson ma ...

for efficient and democratic planning of a complex socialist economy. He proposes a moneyless socialist economy, akin to Karl Marx's description of a socialist society in '' Critique of the Gotha Programme'', realized by today's computer technology:

Political views

In the 1970s, Cockshott was a member of the British and Irish Communist Organisation, but he and several other members became unhappy with B&ICO's position on

workers' control Workers' control is participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there. It has been variously advocated by anarchists, socialists, communists, social democrats, distributists and Christ ...

.What is the Communist Organisation in the British Isles?
in ''Proletarian'', No. 1, c. 1974. Cockshott and several other B&ICO members resigned and formed a new party, the Communist Organisation in the British Isles. Cockshott advocates for a system of a moneyless economy based on a computerized

planned economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...

and

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are repres ...

. He has criticized the

economic calculation problem The economic calculation problem (sometimes abbreviated ECP) is a criticism of using economic planning as a substitute for market-based allocation of the factors of production. It was first proposed by Ludwig von Mises in his 1920 article "Eco ...

on the grounds that planning can be made feasible via computerization and allocation based on labor time.

Published works

*Cockshott, P. (1990). ''Ps-Algol Implementations: Applications in Persistent Object Oriented Programming'', Ellis Horwood Ltd. *Cockshott, P. (1990). ''A Compiler Writer's Toolbox: Interactive Compilers for PCs With Turbo Pascal'', Ellis Horwood Ltd. *Cockshott, P., Cottrell, A. (1993). '' Towards a New Socialism'', Spokesman. *Cockshott, P., Renfrew K. (2004). ''SIMD Programming Manual for Linux and Windows'', Springer. *Cockshott, P. (2010). ''Transition to 21st Century Socialism in the European Union'', Lulu. *Cockshott, P. (2011). ''Glasgow Pascal Compiler with vector extensions'', Lulu. *Cockshott, P., Zachariah, D. (2012). ''Arguments for Socialism'', Lulu. *Cockshott, P., Cottrell, A., Michaelson, G., Wright, I., Yakovenko, V. (2012). ''Classical Econophysics'', Routledge. *Cockshott, P., Mackenzie, L., Michaelson, G. (2015). ''Computation and its Limits'', Oxford University Press. *Cockshott, P. (2019). ''How the World Works: The Story of Human Labor from Prehistory to the Modern Day'', Monthly Review Press.

References

External links

Paul Cockshott's YouTube channel

Paul Cockshott's blog

"Paul Cockshott - Towards a new Socialism (1/3)"
Video produced by Oliver Ressler on Paul Cockshott and his planned economy-model
Transcription
of a video by O. Ressler, recorded in Glasgow, GB, 25 min., 2006
''Towards a new socialism''
complete book download.
Len Brewster on "Towards a new Socialism? by W. Paul Cockshott and Allin F. Cottrell. (Nottingham, U.K.: Spokesman Books, 1993)", Review Essay
''The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics'', Vol.7, No.1 (Spring 2004): 65–77.; Paul Cockshott
"Notes for a critique of Brewster"
(20 June 2009). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cockshott, Paul Living people Scottish computer scientists 1952 births Marxist theorists People from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Glasgow Marxian economists