26 ms·

Probably "Seeing Like a State", no?

• ndileas 2y ago
  I had thought that the thesis of seeing like a state is that when you attempt to rationalize a complex system, you necessarily simplify it and sometimes destroy the value in it. E.g. If a government wants to raise money via taxes on food production, growing food becomes disincentivized. Or the simple fact that maps can't show everything about the piece of land they represent. I think the opposite of the tyranny of structurelessness looks more like our legal + regulatory system where sometimes you need a team of experts to tell you where you can build a building, or the military where everything is so regimented so that you need to fill out forms to buy toilet paper.
  • greenie_beans 2y ago
    fwiw, the us government has given meat producers over $2 billion to cull animals infected with h5n1. seems like the government giving money to food production is working quite well.
    • ndileas 2y ago
      That was a hypothetical of a government taxing production. Of course in practice they tend to do the opposite, subsidizing food production quite heavily.
      • greenie_beans 2y ago
        oop you're right, i misread.