Comments on: Why The World is So Screwed Up

By: The War On Bullshit » Blog Archive » Food Stamps and Infrastructure Spending More Stimulating than Tax Cuts

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:58:11 +0000

[...] The whole idea of creating a law by negotiating is insane and doomed to failure. A stimulus package is a socio-technical artifact that needs to be rationally [...]

By: The War On Bullshit » Blog Archive » Top 10 Reasons Why Obama will Fail

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:03:42 +0000

[...] I mean the underlying causes of the decline of the United States. Those are mere symptoms of the true problems: 1) The political system (democracy) is fundamentally broken, 2) the system of laws is [...]

By: The War On Bullshit » Blog Archive » A Seven Step Program for Democracy 2.0

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:08:05 +0000

[...] while back, I described the fundamental problem with the political process: the systems comprising our society are designed, through laws, by a bunch of lawyers without [...]

By: The War On Bullshit » Blog Archive » Kavan’s Top 5 Ways to Save Energy - The Big Picture

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:01:18 +0000

[...] Related Articles The 10 Commandments of Everyday Minimalism Top 32 reasons to buy less stuff Why The World is So Screwed Up [...]

By: The War On Bullshit » Blog Archive » Google announces $10 million in funding for YOU, if you know how to help enough people

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:24:06 +0000

[...] few posts ago, I identified what may be the root cause of our society’s ubiquitous problems. Reader jonathan quite rightly commented: “Flawless description of a problem…but no [...]

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:21:19 +0000

@Kavan – I knew “(insert your own analogy)” was a mistake. McDonald’s Co. as a whole may have been a more appropriate example, but let’s look at the local McDonald’s example. We can assume that because we stop at a box and order food and some food like substance pops out the other end that it’s running smoothly (mostly). Now what we don’t know/see is that from time to time little Johnny has the propensity to wipe ball sweat on your sesame seed bun. This is going to happen regardless of how well the system was designed. We can say that little Johnny isn’t the norm and it’s impossible to stop an occasional degenerate from throwing a monkey wrench into the works (I would agree); however, the local McDonald’s isn’t the type of environment which breeds and cultivates corruption/ greed and literally every other shameless human characteristic. Sadly, the same can’t be said for anything even remotely related to the government or big business. My only real point is, even the perfectly designed system can be FUBR’d with the wrong people running it. People who are predominately greedy, corrupt, or just plain ignorant.

Now that being said, I agree that under the current environment we are doomed from the get go because the system is being designed by unqualified individuals.

By: Kavan Wolfe

Kavan Wolfe — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:58:31 +0000

@Anthony, Yes, I have traveled outside the developed world, and have lived in places that grew in just the manner you describe. On the other hand, I am hesitant to advocate centralized planning because of the examples, especially in the former soviet bloc, where it has gone so terribly wrong. Perhaps there is a blance…

@alphabitch, thanks. Based on the viewership of the recent Obama and Palin convention speeches, perhaps the era of the sound bite is in decline, and more people will start paying attention to arguments with more depth. We’ll have to wait and see.

By: alphabitch

alphabitch — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:06:50 +0000

That is probably the most concise, logical explanation of the problem with modern legislative systems I have ever read.

Ergo, it will probably go over the vast majority of people’s heads.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:29:05 +0000

This is a great post! I don’t know if you’ve ever traveled outside of the so-called “developed world” but you can see clearly the situation you described if you look at the way cities “grow” in most places in the world. In Manila, for example, only a very small segment of the sprawling metropolis that exists today was “planned.” The bulk of it grew out of squatter communities and the needs of a growing population, so streets were established, small towns elected mayors, each segment of the population focusing on their immediate individualized needs so that, in the end, you end up with a pretty chaotic city that, like the laws you were talking about, has a labyrinthine characteristic.

Perhaps the law needs some sort of master plan, like cities need urban planning?

By: Kavan Wolfe

Kavan Wolfe — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:27:28 +0000

@Andrew, many thanks. Follow-ups are in the works

@Rick, Ever go to MacDonald’s? I avoid it like the plague myself, but if you happen to go there, you will find that nobody working in a typical MacDonald’s is particularly intelligent, skilled or talented. The manager doesn’t have an MBA, and you’ll be lucky if the staff can add without a cash register. However, the place runs in an effective and efficient manner (mostly). Why? Because a well-designed system doesn’t need heroes to operate it.

@Jonathan, very true. One of the underlying premises of engineering design is that one should keep one should understanding the problem first. What I’m describing is among the most challenging problems ever to face humanity. It cannot be solved quickly, easily or in sound bites.