The Jolly Contrarian

I believe: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

I believe (view source)

Revision as of 17:38, 6 March 2024

698 bytes removed ,  6 March
no edit summary
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(6 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{a|devil|{{image|turnip famer|png|“''The Old Turnip Farmer''” {{vsr|1835}}}}{{Quote|
{{a|devil|}}{{Quote|
It becomes known in the village that the old turnip farmer has fallen upon hard times. <br>
{{turnip farmer}}}}
One day, a wealthy young merchant pays him a visit and asks to borrow a turnip. Rather perplexed, the old man rummages in his sack, and provides one. <br>
“You needn’t ''borrow'' it,” the old man says: “you can just ''have'' it.” <br>
The merchant thanks him profusely and bids him good day. <br>
“What did you do that for, Dad?” asks his daughter, when he returns home that evening. “You don’t even ''like'' turnips. And you are the wealthiest man in the village. You could buy all the turnips you could want from the grocer down the road. Why impose your will on that poor unfortunate farmer?” <br>
“Because now I am in his debt,” replied the merchant. “I owe him, and he needs not feel shame to ask a favour of me.”}}


{{d|Credit|/ˈkrɛdɪt/|v|}}
{{d|Credit|/ˈkrɛdɪt/|v|}}
Line 25: Line 20:
To trust someone is to ''take a [[risk]]''.
To trust someone is to ''take a [[risk]]''.


Prevailing orthodoxy is to [[Taxonomy|taxonomise]], categorise, and eliminate every foible, variable, weakness, and [[risk]], as you go, delimiting, boxing, [[reductionism|reducing]] and bit-crushing risks down into their smallest components. “By so isolating and atomising risks,” the orthodox are prone to say,  “you eliminate them, you see.”
=== Rules are a poor proxy for trust ===
Prevailing orthodoxy is to [[Taxonomy|taxonomise]], categorise, and eliminate every foible, variable, weakness, and [[risk]], as you go, delimiting, boxing, [[reductionism|reducing]] and bit-crushing risks down into their smallest components.  


A great risk in the system is that posed by humans beings: all their inconstancy, unreliability, stupidity or mendacity. Thus, eliminating risk tends to be conflated with eliminating ''individuals'', or at least the need to ''[[trust]]'' them. Hence, a millenarian yen to rid the present system of the need for trust, replacing it with technology. To be clear here: distributed ledgers do not reinforce trust between transactors: they ''eliminate the need for'' it.
“By so isolating and atomising risks,” the orthodox are prone to say,  “you eliminate them, you see.”
 
A great risk in the system is that posed by humans beings: all their inconstancy, unreliability, stupidity or mendacity. Thus, eliminating risk tends to be conflated with eliminating ''individuals'', or at least the need to ''[[trust]]'' them. Hence, a millenarian yen to rid the present system of the need for trust, replacing it with ''rules'' and ''[[Electric monk|technology]]''.  
 
To be clear here: distributed ledgers do not reinforce trust between merchants: they ''eliminate the need for'' it.


So in the same way that rules, playbooks and policies override the judgment of and confidence in individuals using them — thereby deprecating those individuals and stunting their ability to connect on an emotional level — the will to eliminate [[Trusted intermediary|trusted intermediaries]] in a [[Blockchain|distributed ledger]] system has the same fundamental shortcoming.  
So in the same way that rules, playbooks and policies override the judgment of and confidence in individuals using them — thereby deprecating those individuals and stunting their ability to connect on an emotional level — the will to eliminate [[Trusted intermediary|trusted intermediaries]] in a [[Blockchain|distributed ledger]] system has the same fundamental shortcoming.  
Line 37: Line 37:
Social relationships, friendships and emotional connections — which [[High modernism|modernist]]<nowiki/>s view as irrelevant at best, or more likely indications of graft or nepotism in the system — in fact have a perfectly sensible role: ''they reinforce bonds of trust'' between participants.
Social relationships, friendships and emotional connections — which [[High modernism|modernist]]<nowiki/>s view as irrelevant at best, or more likely indications of graft or nepotism in the system — in fact have a perfectly sensible role: ''they reinforce bonds of trust'' between participants.


now to be sure: this may be unfair to outsiders who don’t have those connections or any way of making them — but the answer is to create opportunities for those at the margins, who might otherwise be disenfranchised (as they are systematically deprived of the opportunities to enter the market in favour of insiders) to build those social relations.  For example: be imaginative about your hiring choices. Why do you reflexively hire from magic circle firms and Russell Group universities? but a decentralised ledger where no-one ''needs'' to trust others in the market is hardly a decent no substitute. You cannot banish bonds of trust.
Now to be sure: this may be unfair to outsiders who don’t have those connections or any way of making them — but the answer is to create opportunities for those at the margins, who might otherwise be disenfranchised (as they are systematically deprived of the opportunities to enter the market in favour of insiders) to build those social relations.  For example: be imaginative about your hiring choices. Why do you reflexively hire from magic circle firms and Russell Group universities? but a decentralised ledger where no-one ''needs'' to trust others in the market is hardly a decent no substitute. You cannot banish bonds of trust.


The answer is not to prevent these activities, but create alternative structures which lower the barriers to entry into relations of trust for those without the necessary connections.  
The answer is not to prevent these activities, but create alternative structures which lower the barriers to entry into relations of trust for those without the necessary connections.  


{{Sa}}{{draft}}


{{draft}}
*{{br|Debt: The First 5,000 Years|''Debt: The First 5000 Years}}
*{{br|Bitcoin is Venice}}
{{ref}}
{{ref}}
<references />
Retrieved from "https://jollycontrarian.com/index.php?title=Special:MobileDiff/67947...84010"