3 ms·

> I think the longevity of religious organizations points the way towards how the human race can plan and advance with projects that cannot be completed in a si

> I think the longevity of religious organizations points the way towards how the human race can plan and advance with projects that cannot be completed in a single lifetime. But there is no indication of a continuity of aims among those organizations - they just continue to exist over long periods of time. There was a silly meme going around a while back about how the Catholic church "thinks in centuries, not decades". But that is clearly not the case, considering the Catholic church contradicts or overrides its own stances, even ones it viewed as very important at the time, from centuries ago. What good is having an ultra long lasting organization for long term projects, if someone who comes into power 100 years later may have exactly the opposite viewpoint on the project as the initiator?

ineedasername 7y ago
Short term thinking can occur within the same institution that also fosters long term planning as well. Indeed, the fall the Catholic Church's influence within the developed Western world may be a failure to recognize long term trends that required more multi-generational plans for adaptation. Similarly, their treatment of abuse perpetrated by clergy represents a solution that maximized short term gains (they didn't have to deal with the issue for a while) over longer term massive loss in faith, trust, etc. I'm not even saying these institutions were even very good at multi-human lifespan planning, I'm saying their longevity at least allowed for that possibility. And in the case of many religious institutions, they did indeed embark on projects that lasted hundred of years (some of the largest cathedrals and other religious buildings took many human lifetimes). So, whether or not the longest lived organizations on earth have themselves executed multi-lifespan projects, their longevity nonetheless represents one of the necessary conditions for such projects, and in that respect they deserve some consideration for how they achieved their longevity.

ineedasername 7y ago

Short term thinking can occur within the same institution that also fosters long term planning as well. Indeed, the fall the Catholic Church's influence within the developed Western world may be a failure to recognize long term trends that required more multi-generational plans for adaptation. Similarly, their treatment of abuse perpetrated by clergy represents a solution that maximized short term gains (they didn't have to deal with the issue for a while) over longer term massive loss in faith, trust, etc. I'm not even saying these institutions were even very good at multi-human lifespan planning, I'm saying their longevity at least allowed for that possibility. And in the case of many religious institutions, they did indeed embark on projects that lasted hundred of years (some of the largest cathedrals and other religious buildings took many human lifetimes). So, whether or not the longest lived organizations on earth have themselves executed multi-lifespan projects, their longevity nonetheless represents one of the necessary conditions for such projects, and in that respect they deserve some consideration for how they achieved their longevity.