Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Superhighway to Serfdom





  1. A system that tries to rid spontaneity is all-around scary and worrisome.

    For example for a couple years during my early elementary education I when to a very structured totalitarian school. My teacher felt that knowledge should be presented slowly in a very structured way. We would spend so many minutes on each subject and worst of all this teacher felt that no student should get ahead or behind so by default she would teach at the slowest pace ever (and her teaching it self consisted of 100% worksheets busy work). Out of boredom I started a rebellion against this lousy over controlled system and found that I would soon end up being placed in a cubical with headphones on my head every day so I would not "disturb" the other students (I was in seven and in jail). One day my father came to see me at school and saw what was going on. He placed me into home school on the spot. After I was shifted into home school I found that I could learn at my own pace (which could fluctuate day by day) and the lesser structured system proved to be one that could contribute to my learning and education.

    I understand though that each and every person is different, some love randomness and spontaneity others despise it(if you wonder where you stand take a Myers Briggs test...I felt that particular categorization made the most sense compared to the other three or four which where more iffy). Those who love order may have loved my Chinese prison camp education experience and and would have preferred it to their own.

    However reality must be factored into this equation the truth is that the world is full of order and it is full of chaos both are needed for us to function and to create working systems.

    The problem is force. Yes a balance must occur between order and spontaneity but this should by no means be forced in to a system it should come naturally. Indicators can show us how things change (whether or not the change is random or predicable) and the best thing that we can do to avoid the coffee shortages of 2023 is to let these changes happen and then respond at our own free will; as people will see opportunities and can create a multifaceted pluralistic system that drives innovation rather than crushes it as with a forced system.

    Indeed you are right this point is simple in fact its so simple that its hard for most people to understand.