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I, Pencil
- mcny 9y agoBegin quote Ideas are most powerful when they’re wrapped in a compelling story. Leonard’s main point—economies can hardly be “planned” when not one soul possesses all the know-how and skills to produce a simple pencil—unfolds in the enchanting words of a pencil itself. Leonard could have written “I, Car” or “I, Airplane,” but choosing those more complex items would have muted the message. No one person—repeat, no one, no matter how smartor how many degrees follow his name—could create from scratch a small, everyday pencil, let alone a car or an airplane. End quote This bothers me a lot because I want to support economic liberalization but I can't. Something I didn't think about even a few months ago is that people are individuals. They have their own hopes and dreams. A CEO is an individual. They do what is best for them. Often, what is best for them isn't what's best for the corporation in the long term much less what is good for the world. Project managers are also individuals. Sometimes, success of a project will be detrimental to its manager's career. I'm sorry for bringing this up because like they say I relatively learned of principal agent problem and so I see it everywhere (sort of like how you see a vw beetle everywhere if you count vw beetles driving in the road). When I talk about the defects of capitalism, people call me (humorously I hope) commie scum. But that's just complacency to say "the alternative is worse" and it is like saying "you may not like me but you must vote for me because otherwise this other guy you hate more will win the election". It leaves a bad taste in my mouth just like pencil lead or this ridiculous article that our history professor forced us to read in a college level history course.