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I think this system probably isn't one we can design by thinking really hard. Like an organic system, it's unique, it's not a perfect pattern, and really, really complex. Think less "like chess" and more "like a digestive system."

This also means the system can be described more by emergent pattern, less by rules, which means it's more difficult for small numbers of people to control, and for anybody to fully understand. This is maybe the key shift I'd love to see happen in public thought:

That a good system is something that arises outside of our attempt to control it. So how do we allow this extremely complex, organic system to arise? Well the basic guideline, heavily simplified, is something like "Don't control anyone but yourself."

We've already got a lot of this down - we all agree that assaulting someone or stealing their food or something is bad, and there's heavy norms, both social and legal, to incentivize against doing that. But there's a huge amount of control that we have accepted as normal.

The intense internal control of religious communities, or the default of monogamy, or anti-abortion laws, or rules against busking or selling wares, or anti-sex work laws, or bureaucratic hoops, or drug approval laws, or single-family-home zoning, or even taxes.

The thought of getting rid of all control might seem utterly terrifying, and probably rightly so. But I really think that the system, if we just left it the fuck alone, would become something more complex, more unique, more scary, more beautiful, and ultimately better for all.

Because so many of our problems today that terrify us are caused, at their very root, by the effects of control. Black poverty comes from the roots of slavery. Homelessness trickles down from housing laws and opiate companies. Healthcare costs come from regulatory insanity.

Of course this can't happen overnight. If we suddenly abandoned all laws there would be anarchy. And there's definitely still grey areas (what counts as control?) and I'm a little confused about how this relates to other countries who might one day want to eat us.

5:43 PM · Sep 15, 2019

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But I'd love to see us all breathe, take a step back, and start loosening our white-knuckled grip on reality, just a tad. People know what they need, for themselves, and if you let them get it in the best way they know how, we might start seeing the system provide for itself.

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You had me with the complexity part but lost me with the drift to no laws The tragedy of the commons is no small part of why rules started I expect The big problems in large populations isn’t big bad acts it’s death by 1000 cuts

Dr. Poop Muscles, PhD

@Space_Boy_Ben

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