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• Clock of the Long Now (Score:2)

  by ziggy (25) on 2003.05.30 12:59 (#20650) Journal

  Yes, Hollywood is evil and yes, politcians are easily corrupted. But none of this is new; the horseless carriage lobby may not have been powerful in 1900, but a few years later, the auto lobby was strong enough to dismantle public transit all over the country (even though it was contrary to the public good).

  I really urge you to read Clock of the Long Now [amazon.com] , by Stewart Brand. There's one very useful discussion that categorizes society into seven layers of society: "fashion" at the very top, corporations a little lower, and government a little lower still. As you dig deeper, each layer is necessarily more conservative, more entrenched and less willing to change. Fashion is necessarily fast moving and fickle, while government is necessarily slow moving and deliberate. After all, the last thing you want to do is demolish downtown to build a highway that's needed for a movie set.

  So what we're witnessing isn't some evil conspiracy, it's just how different elements of society react in the face of change. Yes, it's annoying and frustrating. In the long view, this will all blow over and everyone will figure out how to Do The Right Thing (tm). It'll just take a few years. :-S

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  • Re:Clock of the Long Now (Score:2)

    by TorgoX (1933)

    So what we're witnessing isn't some evil conspiracy, it's just how different elements of society react in the face of change.
    Maybe it's an evil conspiracy AND how different elements of society react in the face of change!

    Yes, it's annoying and frustrating. In the long view, this will all blow over and everyone will figure out how to Do The Right Thing (tm).
    Keynes said: in the long run, everyone dies.