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I spent 7 years in the public sector in Denmark and one of the things I experienced there was that people who question the stupidity of MBA type systems are ver

I spent 7 years in the public sector in Denmark and one of the things I experienced there was that people who question the stupidity of MBA type systems are very valuable. We have a lot of good intentions which get ground into these spreadsheet analytics and checklists which can inhibit smart solutions in our social policies and systems. I think this article touches on this sort of "systemic stupidity" that is rarely performed by stupid and was typically created with the best intentions. I know the article has a much broader scope, but I really do think that when we set up too rigid systems with too much auditing and too many "best practices" we also create systems where a lot of people within them won't think. Especially when we manage to extinguish the will of people who might question parts of our systems which are so obviously terrible that they simply stop trying to create change. I never thought of it as collective stupidity before, but I think that it's the perfect description.

smgit 2y ago
Its more like a dance that goes back and forth over time. Rules get proposed to solve one problem and create another down the road. That's the nature of dealing with complex ever changing systems. There is no free lunch unfortunately. Unless AI comes up with something that our own cognitive limitations individually or as a group block out.
drcwpl 2y ago
Exactly, "collective stupidity" is a good way to define the institutional stupidity... I will write more about the functional stupidity in organizations - thank you for the example.
arp242 2y ago
A lot of this seems to happen due to something like: 1. Something goes wrong 2. "We need more procedure to ensure this never-ever happens again!" Repeat over many years, and now everything is regulated to the microscopic detail, and no one really has the authority to do anything. It's basically a special case of the "Politician's fallacy" – "this is terrible, we need to do something!", "this is something", "therefore, we need to do this". In some cases all of that is of course the correct response, but in many others it's a little but more dubious, and in some it's outright misguided. I think everyone would be better off if we'd be a bit more relaxed about "stuff goes wrong sometimes, and that's not always a big deal as long as we correct it". All the preventive measures come with a cost of their own. All of this seems very deeply embedded. Politicians from all sorts of parties have been promising to "cut red tape" for as long as I remember, but it never really happens under any party. I think most politicians are genuine in their intent, but it's not easy to change the mentality of a society.

smgit 2y ago

Its more like a dance that goes back and forth over time. Rules get proposed to solve one problem and create another down the road. That's the nature of dealing with complex ever changing systems. There is no free lunch unfortunately. Unless AI comes up with something that our own cognitive limitations individually or as a group block out.

drcwpl 2y ago

Exactly, "collective stupidity" is a good way to define the institutional stupidity... I will write more about the functional stupidity in organizations - thank you for the example.

arp242 2y ago

A lot of this seems to happen due to something like: 1. Something goes wrong 2. "We need more procedure to ensure this never-ever happens again!" Repeat over many years, and now everything is regulated to the microscopic detail, and no one really has the authority to do anything. It's basically a special case of the "Politician's fallacy" – "this is terrible, we need to do something!", "this is something", "therefore, we need to do this". In some cases all of that is of course the correct response, but in many others it's a little but more dubious, and in some it's outright misguided. I think everyone would be better off if we'd be a bit more relaxed about "stuff goes wrong sometimes, and that's not always a big deal as long as we correct it". All the preventive measures come with a cost of their own. All of this seems very deeply embedded. Politicians from all sorts of parties have been promising to "cut red tape" for as long as I remember, but it never really happens under any party. I think most politicians are genuine in their intent, but it's not easy to change the mentality of a society.