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Does the author really think that the creators of what he calls 'supposedly hierarchy-free companies' don't meet Chesterton's bar? That they swept away hierarch
by jameshart 7y ago
Does the author really think that the creators of what he calls 'supposedly hierarchy-free companies' don't meet Chesterton's bar? That they swept away hierarchy without having first thought about why hierarchy exists in the first place?
Or does he perhaps suspect that they haven't thought about it enough? After all, they can't have truly understood why hierarchies were first instituted, because they have failed to see the benefits he so obviously believes hierarchical organization has.
See, this is the problem with Chesterton's fence. You tell the reformer to go away and think about why the fence is there, and then she comes back and tells you the fence was put there to keep her out. And you say 'ah, poor child, you still don't really understand why the fence is there.'
Sometimes the burden of proof needs to be the other way round.
We're ripping out that fence. And if someone wants to keep it, they need to go away and think and, if they can tell us why that fence needs to continue to exist, only then can they stop us.
- xamuel 7y agoWhoops. You just removed the fence which was put in place thousands of years ago to contain radioactive waste with a million-year half-life. You couldn't read the warning signs since they were written in an ancient long-forgotten script. So you assumed it must be unimportant.
- jameshart 7y agoAll the more reason to tear it down and let the people trapped behind it leave. Oh, you assumed we were on the same side of this fence?
- Firadeoclus 7y agoLuckily, material with a million-year half-life would be barely radioactive. And what's the alternative? To assume that every barrier in existence we can't explain is important and must therefore be maintained forever?
- xamuel 7y agoOne alternative would be for you to follow the prescription, "find out why the fence was put there, then I may allow you to remove it". Investigate what's on the other side of the fence, without tearing it down (this might involve experimentally re-discovering the theory of radiation, depending on the current state of mankind's knowledge). Then go back to the authority and report that the fence seems to be there to contain radioactive waste with a million-year half-life. Armed with this information, the authority will be in a better position to determine whether or not to allow you to tear down the fence.