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February 21, 2004
Things fall apart, the Center cannot hold
And mere anarchy is loosed upon the land, albeit in a very organized way...
We've all seen it, those of us familiar with technology. We get the brand new, latest gizmo and it becomes obsolete. The technology didn't change. It didn't do anything bad in itself, the piece of equipment works as well as it always did. But my first computer is now an historical curiosity in the Smithsonian. What happened? Well, people found new and better ways of exploiting the technology, ways which the architecture of my old computer couldn't keep up...
To make another analogy to the Roman Republic, (though honestly, I only use them because I know them best...) during the late republic, the constitution was changed a whole lot of times. To give one example; during one of the interminable Germanic wars, It was recognized that Giaus Marius was the ablest military commander in the Republic. Unfortunately, only consuls were allowed to command military troops. To make matters more interesting, a General would be stripped of his (military) rank the instant he crossed into Rome (mainly to prevent people like Caesar from doing what Caesar actually did). Long story short: Marius was allowed to stand for Consul In Abstentia...
Flash forward about 40-50 years. Standing In Abstentia was de rigueur. And rather than doing it for the benefit of the Republic, it was being done to postpone prosecution for a few years. What had been a tool had now become a weapon, the technology of government had become obsolete...
Flash-forward to Today. Or, rather, several years ago. The problem was the corporate management and corporate shareholders' interest were not aligned. The was a problem-- someone with power over you who can profit off screwing you will eventually do so. The solution? Corporate managers were granted "options", that is, the ability to by a certain amount of stock at a specified price. If, during their tenure, the price of the stock went up, mangers made money. The system seemed to work well for years...
The problem came when Managers realized a fundamental truth: day to day stock prices don't reflect reality. While it is true that in the long run, stock prices are consistent with, and reflect with fair accuracy, reality; it is possible to hide that reality for years. And we ended up with the corporate governance scandal. The technology of corporate governance had become obsolete...
How about one more example? Marriage laws, as they currently exist, were designed for a vastly different social system than we have today. Human beings were (and are) pretty much always going to be having sex, and sex (when the laws were designed) pretty much always lead to children. Thus providing a marriage framework also created a good framework for providing for children's wellbeing. Too, marriage was the best way to ensure a proper preservation of Capital (which mainly seems to have worked for the parent's benefit.) Suffice it to say today this situation no longer applies. Effective methods of birth control and better methods of asset preservation have combined to annihilate the traditional necessity for marriage. Indeed, today, the only real reason for marriage is love. And thus, the technology of society must change...
Posted by Andrew at February 21, 2004 01:18 PM
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