Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Evolution of Wilful Stupidity

The three monkeys have been with us forever. Why have we evolved into a new era, where this has become institutionalized and perfected for Canada? The ultimate result is that no project will ever again be considered a success.


It all starts with fractals. If you look up fractal on my site, you will see that I'm obsessed with the concept. A fractal is self-similar, just like most geology and earthquake fault mechanics. It is a complex construction based on simple rules, and behaves 'identically' on all scales.

My original gift to the Inter-sphere is that this applies to human societies, as well. We all have the common desires of income, security, and family.

These basic 'forces' result in the classic org chart, which is a fractal. You can see the smallest organization resembles the large.

Now, we've all lived with this since the Roman Conquest. What has made them go poisonous now? Or rather what has stopped them becoming totally self-similar in the past? The answer is Exceptional People. Very bright people have always blown the org chart, and got things done. What has happened to these people?

Basically, the lawyers have eaten them. The safest, most secure way to survive The Chart, is to don the Cloak of Stupidity. The lawyers can't get you then. We know from the Rooney Hearings that this is a perfect defense, if people really believe you are stupid. The ones that get hammered are the bright ones, who can't pull this off, like Martha Stew, or Warren Buff.

Being self-similar, everyone puts on the Cloak of Stupidity. They don't ask obvious questions, don't hear anything, and don't dig. In fact, they set up the organization so that no bad news can travel upwards. Because of self-similarity, the whole organization will get religion about sinking a tunnel, and they will not hear any dissent, so that they can state with a clear conscience that "I never heard nothing!". You'll notice that the only accusation in these hearings is that "You knew, and never did anything." They never say "You stupid idiot!".

And so I am condemned to always write 'nasty' things. Why me? :)

1 comment:

Harold Asmis said...

ps. I was telling this to a young engineer, and he wailed "What will become of me?" I told him this cycle has to break. We just can't have everything go wrong. At some point things will change for the better. ... There, does everybody feel good? :)