Removed from historical context, the idea of Nazism seems absurd and implausible. Yet abstract ideas such as this---serving no one's interest---do take on lives of their own. Humans become these ideas' bewildered carriers and victims. Like a virus, the idea cares about its carrier only in so far as the carrier's well-being is conducive to the idea's propagation. Uncritical attachment to abstract ideals such as duty, honour, loyalty, and consistency turn humans into obliging carriers.
Resistance to viral ideas comes from critical reasoning and the assertion of self-interest. Such behaviour flourishes in markets and democracies. Under these regimes, an idea must benefit sufficiently many individuals in order to survive.
To endorse markets and democracies is to endorse a particular moral standard. Markets kill by starving the poor. Such deaths are deemed to be more moral than deaths by a committee. This is presumably so because the impoverished have little to offer not just to the few and possibly prejudiced members of the committee, but to anyone in the inclusive, anonymous market. Democracies kill, for instance, by imposing trade restrictions, by popular will. Such restrictions are deemed to be moral because they benefit the special interests whose lives---as viewed by the group defining morality---are worth more than the lives of sufferers. The incidence of markets and democracies influence---and are influenced by---the prevailing moral norms.
Extinction through evolution is deemed to be more moral than extinction through revolution. This is so due to the society's reluctance to reward momentary superiority in violence. Evolution aggregates the decisions of many, in a variety of environments, and over time.
The desire to change the world is an instinct, related to the desire to seek a better place. Artists and mathematicians create realities that do not interfere with others' realities. Most others' sought realities do conflict.
This conflict admits at least three resolutions: (i) individuals can sort into homogeneous communities with a shared view of reality (e.g., artists' colonies); (ii) individuals can seek seclusion in suburban units, and (iii) individuals can live in high-density, urban environments, with multiple realities intertwined, and tolerate others' realities.
It may be a crime to support an inferior institution. One may be held responsible even if (ex-post) non-pivotal. The rationale is to avoid coordination on inferior outcomes.
24 May 2013
"The Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs (1961)
The Industrial Revolution heralded what few thought possible to engineer: sustained economic growth. With hindsight, governments have come to believe that property rights, the rule of law, the private enterprise, and insurance promote growth. The governments undertook to guard these tenets. Growth has continued to oblige.
Reducing the success of cities to a handful of tenets has proved elusive. Suburbs have been more popular and more enduring than Jane Jacobs had imagined. They are popular among the generations who grew up without having experienced the ideal cities envisaged by Jacobs. They are enduring because they are simple enough systems to be understood and managed. Even suburban boredom has been less venomous than Jacobs had imagined, because of the diversions supplied by television and the Internet; few view watching the street as a comparable entertainment.
The mind needs a delicate balance between external structure and stimulation on the one hand, and the peace and quiet, necessary for independent reasoning, on the other hand. Sensory deprivation and solitary confinement relax at first, then cripple. In the absence of external stimuli, the mind hallucinates.
So suburbs can debilitate. Yet survivors abound, for at least two reasons: (i) what constitutes sense deprivation varies across individuals depending on the baseline level of stimulation to which they were exposed when they grew up, and (ii) individual tastes differ; some may actually like suburbs, regardless of upbringing.
A major suburban limitation is that suburbs do not permit casual relationships. Only intense ones or none are available. So one must settle for an extreme. Furthermore, intensity will typically not translate into depth. Those few with whom deep relationships are possible are unlikely to be one's neighbours.
The restlessness in "the" American character may stem from the dull city scenery. There may be high-density (but architecturally and occupationally monotonous) agglomerations of people without a city atmosphere. Most streets in American cities are barren after dark. One must travel in order to experience the variety of scenery and people. Without a local sample of this variety, however, one may be unaware that variety exists and gratifies.
Reducing the success of cities to a handful of tenets has proved elusive. Suburbs have been more popular and more enduring than Jane Jacobs had imagined. They are popular among the generations who grew up without having experienced the ideal cities envisaged by Jacobs. They are enduring because they are simple enough systems to be understood and managed. Even suburban boredom has been less venomous than Jacobs had imagined, because of the diversions supplied by television and the Internet; few view watching the street as a comparable entertainment.
The mind needs a delicate balance between external structure and stimulation on the one hand, and the peace and quiet, necessary for independent reasoning, on the other hand. Sensory deprivation and solitary confinement relax at first, then cripple. In the absence of external stimuli, the mind hallucinates.
So suburbs can debilitate. Yet survivors abound, for at least two reasons: (i) what constitutes sense deprivation varies across individuals depending on the baseline level of stimulation to which they were exposed when they grew up, and (ii) individual tastes differ; some may actually like suburbs, regardless of upbringing.
A major suburban limitation is that suburbs do not permit casual relationships. Only intense ones or none are available. So one must settle for an extreme. Furthermore, intensity will typically not translate into depth. Those few with whom deep relationships are possible are unlikely to be one's neighbours.
The restlessness in "the" American character may stem from the dull city scenery. There may be high-density (but architecturally and occupationally monotonous) agglomerations of people without a city atmosphere. Most streets in American cities are barren after dark. One must travel in order to experience the variety of scenery and people. Without a local sample of this variety, however, one may be unaware that variety exists and gratifies.
12 May 2013
"Surely You're Yoking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard Feynman (1985)
Specialisation requires detachment, which can be arrived at by deep reasoning or by prejudice, and is well sustained by prejudice.
Individuals are bad at solving in parallel multiple optimisation problems with disparate horizons. Peace---the luxury of focusing on the long horizon---is conducive to intellectual pursuits.
A rich choice set has ennobling influence on one's idiosyncrasies. In its presence, one is not forced towards the lowest common denominator. A choice set is expanded by inviting and following up on life's leads.
That is real the idea of which is useful.
Individuals are bad at solving in parallel multiple optimisation problems with disparate horizons. Peace---the luxury of focusing on the long horizon---is conducive to intellectual pursuits.
A rich choice set has ennobling influence on one's idiosyncrasies. In its presence, one is not forced towards the lowest common denominator. A choice set is expanded by inviting and following up on life's leads.
That is real the idea of which is useful.
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