by Kavan Wolfe (published on Aug 24)
A while back, I tried to explain why the world was so screwed up. I explained that the ubiquitous societal problems we experience (bad transit infrastructure, dependence on fossil fuels, unnecessary wars, etc.) stem from a fundamental problems with governance:
Laws imply the design of the systems that enact them
Lawmakers don’t know sweet fuck all about the systems their designing
Lawmakers know even less about how to design complex socio-technical systems
To this list, I would like to add a fourth indictment of lawmakers: they vote on bills without bothering to read them.
How many people have died because of stupid laws and the broken social systems they create? Everyone who ever died in a traffic accident, or in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Vietnam, the Falkland Islands, and dozens of other politically-motivated wars. Everyone who died because they didn’t have medical insurance, because a nurse or physician made an error, or due to an addiction to something they didn’t know was dangerous until it was too late. Millions.
How many have gone to prison for “crimes” that arguably never hurt anybody, like growing marijuana for medical use? How many have just been inconvenienced or screwed over by airport security, border guards, unemployment insurance, etc.
Every member of every Congress, Parliament, Senate, etc. in the world who has voted for a bill without reading it is CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT for the damage that bill has done. For the misery and suffering inflicted by a broken society. To prison with them – all of them. We must start over.
This must not be allowed to continue.
See also:
Why The World is So Screwed Up
A Seven Step Program for Democracy 2.0
How to Hold the Legal System Hostage Until the Laws Apply to Everyone
Tagged: law, politics, social issues |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Aug 17)
Recently someone told me I was a radical. With the minor qualification that ‘radical’ is not the same as crazy, I take this as a compliment. The existential threats humanity faces, and the fundamental problems with our social systems cannot possibly be solved by incremental thinking. Without radicals, we’re screwed.
Want evidence do I have? Well, here are 10 ideas that were once considered radical. I think it’s pretty clear that these don’t seem very radical anymore.
10. Children should be required to attend school. Read more »
Tagged: list, social issues |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Aug 10)
I was planning a post for today on why the BMI is bullshit, but Keith Devlin of NPR beat me to it.
To summarize their arguments, the BMI is a 200-year-old mathematical hack, created by a man who wasn’t even versed in the anatomical sciences of the day, let alone what we know now. It is not a meaningful measure Read more »
Tagged: essay, health |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Aug 6)
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
I have recently read over the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century (IP21C) Act. Giving the police the power to take down online criminals is a virtuous enterprise; however, allowing police to view any internet communication information without a warrant is unacceptable. Bypassing the cheques and balances of the courts in this way is practically begging for corruption and abuse. This clearly contravenes the “right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure” provided by Canada’s Charter.
This makes no sense. If there is evidence of wrongdoing, the police can get a warrant. If there is no evidence of wrongdoing, the police should not be eavesdropping on private communication.
Worse yet, the only people this will work against are those honest Canadians who have nothing to hide. Everyone who has something to hide will encrypt their internet traffic. This can be accomplished with free software and little technical knowledge, at standards unbreakable by practical means.
Your administration is inviting Big Brother through the front door, and history will not view this kindly. Do you truly wish to go down in history as the Prime Minister who ended privacy?
Tagged: internet, law, social issues |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Aug 3)
It is imperative for a sustainable future to stop buying so much stuff. It’s not just transportation that consumes resources, it’s also all the stuff taking up space in your house (and garage!). How many things do you own that you only use a few times a year? How many things do you not even remember using? Quit buying that crap!
I own a big-ass hammer drill, with a full set of wood, metal and concrete bits, hole saws, screwdriver bits – you name it. I use it once a year – max. So why do I own? Why do thousands of people in my city all own a drill they use no more than a few times a year? Because there’s no where you can go to borrow or rent one. Read more »
Tagged: environment, essay, social issues |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Jul 27)
It’s hard for car companies to build electric vehicles because they’re wrapped up in car thinking instead of electric vehicle thinking. Cars, as in four-wheel vehicles that carry two to six passengers using power generated from internal combustion engines, are nothing like electric vehicles… at least not if we want the EVs to be any good. Let’s examine some of the differences.
1. Single engine vs. wheel motors
Cars generally have one engine, which converts potential energy (stored in gasoline, diesel, ethanol, etc.) into kinetic energy (rotation). This rotation is then carried via a rotating drive shaft to the wheels. This doesn’t make any sense for an electric vehicle Read more »
Tagged: energy, list, transportation |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Jul 23)
IT seems that upgrading to Wordpress 2.8 a few weeks ago broke my RSS feeds. It should be fixed now. *Please* let me know in the comments if you notice any problems.
For the more technically inclined, the problem occurs when using the adsense deluxe plugin to include google ads within posts. The javascript that displays the ads is included in the RSS feed when you select “For each article in a feed, show full text” under Settings –> Reading. You can see the problem by entering the address of your feed at http://feedvalidator.org. The problem can be solved by selecting “show summary” instead of “show full text” under Settings –> Reading. Removing the ads might also solve the problem, but I suspect other Wordpress plugins, like the sharing bar you see under each of my posts, may have similar effects on the feed.
Tagged: administration |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Jul 20)
Others have said this before, but it’s worth repeating.
The purpose of the healthcare system is to keep people from getting sick in the first place, and, if they do get sick, to make them better as quickly and inexpensively as possible.
The purpose of business is to make money. Read more »
Tagged: economics, health, ThoughtOfTheDay |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Jul 14)
The law has, long ago, ceased to apply to the powerful. That is why a poor person who murders someone gets the chair, whereas a CEO who murders someone through the actions of his corporation gets a bonus (see, for example, TASER). That is also why Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have not been prosecuted despite confessing to war crimes on national television. Read more »
Tagged: law, politics, ThoughtOfTheDay |
by Kavan Wolfe (published on Jul 5)
The War on Bullshit is in the process of moving to a new theme. Please be patient while we work the bugs out.
If you have any feedback on the new look, please leave a comment. We’d love to hear it.
Tagged: administration |
