Call for Papers: Hayek and the Machines

Guest editors, James Caton and Bill Tulloh

F. A. Hayek is a Nobel Laureate economist, often recognized for his contributions to theories of money, capital, and institutions. Less recognized are the computational foundations of his theorizing, especially in his work that followed The Sensory Order. Hayek's interest began moving in this direction when, in "Economics and Knowledge", he recognized that his "criticism of the recent tendencies to make economic theory more and more formal is not that they have gone too far, but that they have not yet been carried far enough to complete the isolation of this branch of logic and to restore to its rightful place the investigation of causal processes, using formal economic theory as a tool in the same way as mathematics (Hayek 1937, 35)." Hayek desired to elaborate precisely the means by which information is communicated and knowledge generated. Hayek elaborated his computational perspective most systematically beginning with The Sensory Order where he draws from computational neurology to build a theory of cognition. In attempting to develop a theory of communication in this respect, Hayek noted that "The field in which the general properties of a class of phenomena are derived from the general principle by which they are defined, a field to which indeed our particular problem belongs, is the general theory of machines or, as J. von Neumann has recently called it, the 'logic of automata'. (Hayek $\approx$ 1953-54 [2017], 363)" And in later work, he notes that his institutional theory applies to "some sort of reduplicating mechanical structures (Hayek 1967 [2014], 278n3)." Hayek's position has come under criticism. For example, Israel Kirzner asserts that Hayek's theory, despite conveying market process, employs maximizing agents that do not adequately convey the entrepreneurial element of human action. While such an assertion is hardly conclusive, it invites the reader to consider the relationship between evolutionary perspectives of F. A. Hayek and Carl Menger (Vanberg 2022), in light of Hayek's development using computational agents - machines - as a theoretical device.

We invite papers that explore Hayek's computational perspective and that develop insights relating this work to modern computational methods. This includes investigation of the context in which Hayek developed his computational perspective (Caldwell 2014; Axtell 2016; Lewis 2016; 2017), insights in neurology, especially computational neurology, consistent with The Sensory Order (B. Smith 1997; Butos and Koppl 2007; Fuster 2011), research that investigates Hayek's Sensory Order as a source of inspiration for or influence upon early research in neural networks and cognition (for example, Rosenblatt 1958; 1961; George 1962; 1963; Good 1965; 1972), computational models and approaches informed by Hayek's work (Miller and Drexler 1988; Lavoie, Baetjer and Tulloh 1990; Baum 1999; Sudhir and Tran-Thanh 2025), computational representations of ecologically rational agents (Smith 2002; Gigerenzer 2008; Caton 2017; Dekker and Remic 2019), elaboration of the ongoing challenge to sensibly interpret the divide between subsymbolic and symbolic reasoning, including concerns about undecidability and non-computability (for example, see Fodor & Pylyshyn, 1988; Feser 2011; Hauwe 2011; Hinton 2022; Malsburg 2024), recognition of the contributions of The Sensory Order (see citations; for example, Weimer 1977), and any thesis concerning F. A. Hayek tangent to these domains (for example, Hancock 2024).

Proposals

Proposals ( $\approx 1$ page in length plus preliminary bibliography) should be sent to James L Caton no later than August 31, 2025. Manuscripts should be 6,000-10,000 words in length. The first completed draft will be due January 31, 2026 with final revision due May 31, 2026.

References

Axtell, R. (2016). Hayek Enriched by Complexity Enriched by Hayek." Advances in Austrian Economics: Revisiting Hayek's Political Economy 21, 63-121: View Article

Baum, E. (1999). "Toward a Model of Intelligence as an Economy of Agents." Machine Learning 35, 155-183: View Article

Butos, W. and Koppl, R. (1997). "The Varieties of Subjectivism: Keynes and Hayek on Expectations." History of Political Economy 29 (2), 327-359: View Article

Caldwell, B. (2014). "Introduction" in Hayek, F. A. The Market and Other Orders Chicago: University of Chicago Press: View Article

Caton, J. (2017). "Entrepreneurship, Search Costs, and Ecological Rationality in an Agent-based Economy" Review of Austrian Economics 30, 107-130: View Article

Dekker, E. and Remic, B. (2019). "Two Types of Ecological Rationality: Or How to Best Combine Psychology and Economics." Journal of Economic Methodology 26 (4), 291-306: View Article

Feser, E. (2011). "Hayek, Popper, and the Causal Theory of Mind." Advances in Austrian Economics 15, 73-102: View Article.

Fodor, J. A. and Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1988). "Connectionism and Cognitive Architecture: A Critical Analysis. Cognition 28, 3-71: View Article

Foerster, H. and Zopf Jr., G. (1961). Principles of Self-organization, International Tracts in Computer Science and Technology and Their Application, Volume 9 New York: Pergamon Press: View Book

Fuster, J. M. (2018). "Review: From the Percept to the Mind." The Journal of Mind and Behavior 15, 3-11: View Article

George, F. H. (1962). The Brain as a Computer.Oxford: Pergamum Press: View Book

George, F. H. (1963). "Finite Automata and the Nervous System." Progress in Brain Research 2, 37-52: View Article

Gigerenzer, G. (2008). Rationality for Mortals: How People Cope with Uncertainty Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press: View Book

Good, I. (1965). "Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine". Advances in Computers 6, 31-88: View Article

Good, I. (1972). "Food for Thought." In: Nicholson, J.P. (eds) Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Brain. Advances in Behavioral Biology. Springer, Boston, MA: View Chapter

Hancock, M. (2024). "Spontaneity and Control: Friedrich Hayek, Stafford Beer, and the Principles of Self-Organization." Modern Intellectual History, 1-20: View Article

Hauwe, L. (2011). "Hayek, Gödel, and the Case for Methodological Dualism." Journal of Economic Methodology 18 (4), 387-407: View Article

Hayek, F. A. (1937). "Economics and Knowledge." Economica 4 (13), 33-54: View Article

Hayek, F. A. (1952 [2017]). The Sensory Order and Other Writings on the Foundations of Theoretical Psychology. Ed., Vanberg, V. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: View Book

Hayek, F. A. (1967 [2014]). "Notes on the Conduct of Evolutionary Systems." in ed., Caldwell, B. The Market and Other Orders. University of Chicago Press: View Chapter

Hayek, F. A. ( $\approx 1953 - 54$ [2017]). "Within Systems and about Systems." in Ed., Vanberg, V. J. The Sensory Order and Other Writings on the Foundations of Theoretical Psychology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: View Book

Hinton, G. (2022). "How to Represent Part-Whole Hierarchies in a Neural Network." Neural Computation 35, 413-452: View Article

Lavoie, D., Baetjer, H., and Tulloh, W. (1990). "High-tech Hayekians: New Directions in Austrian Economics." Market Process 8, 120-147: View Chapter

Lewis, P. (2016). "The Emergence of 'Emergence' in the Work of F. A. Hayek: A Historical Analysis."History of Political Economy 48 (1), 111-150: View Article

Lewis, P. (2017). "Ontology and the History of Economic Thought: The Case of Anti-reductionism in the work of Friedrich Hayek." Cambridge Journal of Economics 41 (5), 1343-1365: View Article

Malsburg, C. (2024). "Foder and Pylyshyn's Critique of Connectionism and the Brain as Basis of the Mind." Human Arenas Available Online: View Article

Miller, M. S. and Drexler, K. E. (1988b). "Incentive Engineering for Computational Resource Management." in The Ecology of Computation (Ed.) B. A. Huberman. Amsterdam: North-Holland: 231-266: View Chapter

Neumann, J. (1966). Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata ed. A. W. Burks. University of Illinois Press: Urbana, IL: View Book

Rosenblatt, F. (1958). "The Perceptron: A Probabilistic Model for Information Storage and Organization in the Brain." Psychological Review 65 (6), 386-408: View Article

Rosenblatt, F. (1961). Principles of Neurodynamics: Perceptrons and the Theory of Brain Mechanisms Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory: View Book

Sudhir, A. P. and Tranh-Thanh, L. (2025). "Market-based Architectures in RL and Beyond." Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagents Systems May 19-23, 2025: View Article

Smith, B. (1997). "The Connectionist Mind: A Study of Hayekian Psychology." in Hayek: Economists and Social Philosopher: A Critical Retrospective. London: Macmillan, 9-29: View Chapter

Smith, V. (2002). Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms. New York: Cambridge University Press: View Book

Weimer, W. B. (1977[1982]). "Hayek's Approach to the Problems of Complex Phenomena: An Introduction to the Theoretical Psychology of The Sensory Order". in Ed., Weimer, W. B. and Palermo, D. S. Cognition and the Symbolic Processes: Vol. 2, 241-285: View Chapter

Vanberg, V. J. (2022). "Carl Menger, F. A. Hayek, and the Evolutionary Strand in Austrian Economics." The Review of Austrian Economics 35, 481-515: View Article