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Corruption, above all else, is the biggest thing holding humanity back, but I wonder if it is possible to cleanse corruption from a society where it is so deepl

by zizee 14y ago

Corruption, above all else, is the biggest thing holding humanity back, but I wonder if it is possible to cleanse corruption from a society where it is so deeply ingrained? Are there any good examples of a really corrupt society successfully making the transition to an relatively uncorrupted state?

eckyptang 14y ago
It would be nice but it's part of human nature. It's simply a form of survival. You'd need an external non human entity to prevent it, which inevitably leads to bad science fiction stories being recalled...
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
nik61 14y ago
USA - a lot better than it once was, I've heard. So is the UK compared to the 18th Century. Much remains to be done in both cases... Anybody got an effective analysis of how the changes for the better happened (if they really did)?
yk 14y ago
I would argue that the transition from feudal societies to modern nations is a example for such an transition. On a much shorter timescale, there seems to be quite some variability in corruption[1]. And connecting the plot lines, there seems no show stopper at any value of this corruption metric, so there seems to be no problem in principle to move from a very corrupt society to a uncorrupt one on a timescale of 20 years. Playing a bit further with the data, the correlation between corruption and GDP is rather impressive [2]. [1] Google public data explorer link: http://bit.ly/PQ12bj http://bit.ly/PQ12bj [2] Again Google: http://bit.ly/Ttp24m http://bit.ly/Ttp24m
- zizee 14y ago
  Agreed, I was thinking that as well. I wonder if the same factors in transforming those societies all those years ago could be used in the modern world? Or has the world changed so much since then that the same factors could no longer apply? Things like much larger populations, greater mobility and communications may make the solution to corruption a lot different today than what worked in the past.

by zizee 14y ago

eckyptang 14y ago

It would be nice but it's part of human nature. It's simply a form of survival. You'd need an external non human entity to prevent it, which inevitably leads to bad science fiction stories being recalled...

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

nik61 14y ago

USA - a lot better than it once was, I've heard. So is the UK compared to the 18th Century. Much remains to be done in both cases... Anybody got an effective analysis of how the changes for the better happened (if they really did)?

yk 14y ago

I would argue that the transition from feudal societies to modern nations is a example for such an transition. On a much shorter timescale, there seems to be quite some variability in corruption[1]. And connecting the plot lines, there seems no show stopper at any value of this corruption metric, so there seems to be no problem in principle to move from a very corrupt society to a uncorrupt one on a timescale of 20 years. Playing a bit further with the data, the correlation between corruption and GDP is rather impressive [2]. [1] Google public data explorer link: http://bit.ly/PQ12bj http://bit.ly/PQ12bj [2] Again Google: http://bit.ly/Ttp24m http://bit.ly/Ttp24m

zizee 14y ago
Agreed, I was thinking that as well. I wonder if the same factors in transforming those societies all those years ago could be used in the modern world? Or has the world changed so much since then that the same factors could no longer apply? Things like much larger populations, greater mobility and communications may make the solution to corruption a lot different today than what worked in the past.