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This is like scrapping old code and starting from scratch, the problem of course being that all that cruft in the old code was there for a reason.

by ubasu 14y ago

wmf 14y ago
"Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up." — G. K. Chesterton But once you understand the reason you may realize it's a bad one. Many countries seem to be getting crushed by cultural and political path dependence.
- pbreit 14y ago
  I don't like that advice at all. So many fences have been installed for lousy reasons. And the results might be hard to predict so better to actually experience them. If you make a mistake, you can always re-install.
stickfigure 14y ago
Having experienced the joy of Honduras' "cruft" firsthand, I can assure you that it serves no noble purpose. Try importing a piece of equipment through customs. The process is truly Kafka-esque. It's like the government is actively working to prevent its citizens from acquiring the tools to, you know, lift themselves out of poverty.
- ubasu 14y ago
  That is true - I was thinking of places with a functional government where the people have participated in its building. ;-)
  - stickfigure 14y ago
    Just to be clear, until 2009 Honduras had one of the most stable governments in Central America. My experience was in 2008. I found that while Hondurans are generally warm, anyone I interacted with in an official capacity was officious and unpleasant. It's like an entire country run by the DMV. My closing comments when I left Honduras are here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8366876&postcount=345 http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8366876&po... (you can browse a few posts earlier for more pics - sadly I didn't take a lot during my customs experience) I guess what I'm saying is that it's not clear you can separate "the people" from "the government" here. The cruft that is the Honduran civil system just accumulated over decades - it wasn't imposed by a dictator or anything like that.

This is like scrapping old code and starting from scratch, the problem of course being that all that cruft in the old code was there for a reason.

by ubasu 14y ago

This is like scrapping old code and starting from scratch, the problem of course being that all that cruft in the old code was there for a reason.

wmf 14y ago

"Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up." — G. K. Chesterton But once you understand the reason you may realize it's a bad one. Many countries seem to be getting crushed by cultural and political path dependence.

pbreit 14y ago
I don't like that advice at all. So many fences have been installed for lousy reasons. And the results might be hard to predict so better to actually experience them. If you make a mistake, you can always re-install.

stickfigure 14y ago

Having experienced the joy of Honduras' "cruft" firsthand, I can assure you that it serves no noble purpose. Try importing a piece of equipment through customs. The process is truly Kafka-esque. It's like the government is actively working to prevent its citizens from acquiring the tools to, you know, lift themselves out of poverty.

ubasu 14y ago
That is true - I was thinking of places with a functional government where the people have participated in its building. ;-)
- stickfigure 14y ago
  Just to be clear, until 2009 Honduras had one of the most stable governments in Central America. My experience was in 2008. I found that while Hondurans are generally warm, anyone I interacted with in an official capacity was officious and unpleasant. It's like an entire country run by the DMV. My closing comments when I left Honduras are here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8366876&postcount=345 http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8366876&po... (you can browse a few posts earlier for more pics - sadly I didn't take a lot during my customs experience) I guess what I'm saying is that it's not clear you can separate "the people" from "the government" here. The cruft that is the Honduran civil system just accumulated over decades - it wasn't imposed by a dictator or anything like that.