Thanks for posting this. As a note, the second two paragraphs of the block quote (beginning, "One of Stafford Beer's key criteria for establishing a viable system . . .") should be a nested quote. Those are from Davies.
(I am making the argument that it's worth having some skepticism about what sorts of problems can be solved by new leadership.)
I'm glad of another post on the book -- it deserved more than my sniping at the odd staffing practices of the British Army.
NickS, you started a new blog!!!!! That makes me really happy. I'm unreliable in relationships at nearly every level right now, from keeping in touch with parents and friends to reading and commenting on things, but I'll definitely keep it on my radar.
Why Substack rather than one of the traditional blogging platforms? I've been thinking of starting a new blog myself to review some of the books I've been reading lately so I'm very interested in this decision.
If you're not using Movable Type 3.33, is it even blogging?
The others have been dormant for a while, it's true.
7: ogged has not forsaken the Old Gods.
You should only be allowed two, maybe three, blogs so there are enough pixels for everyone.
Why Substack rather than one of the traditional blogging platforms?
Because I ended up finding a small community of people on Substack (mostly music bloggers) that I was enjoying connecting with. That's why most of my posts are music related. The short explanation is in this post: https://earnestnessisunderrated.substack.com/p/tune-tag-teaser
I continue to be grateful for Brad's willingness to host, and openness to accept a request from a complete stranger. Without Tune Tag I probably wouldn't have started this stack, and it certainly wouldn't have the form that it does.
As I may have mentioned before, I had been going through a long stretch of not listening to much music -- for various reasons but mostly getting busy and distracted and not feeling like I had the attention. But Tune Tag was the perfect way to stretch those muscles again; it provided a format to start thinking, in a small scale about what songs resonated with me and how I would want to share them. I was pleased to learn that, even though there are many people here who know much more about music than I do, that my tastes were quirky enough that I still had things to share that they didn't know.
It's really too bad your real name isn't Earnest S.
One of the interesting things that I realized is that there are some substacks with a vibrant community of commenters (for example Anne Helen Peterson), but that wasn't what I wanted, ultimately.
I think I wasn't looking for something that would feel too close to unfogged. The folkways of this place are so deeply ingrained for me, that I think a different community built around current events, culture, and politics would feel jarring for me. But finding a small group of music blogs that mostly write about older music has been fun, and sits in a different mental space from unfogged.
15: If it were, it would be an interesting case of Normative Determinism.
I'm sorry, I'm having trouble reading past anyone arguing "it would be desirable for Elon Musk to take over twitter." Even if that turns out to have been presented as an example of poor judgment and flawed reasoning.
17: I wrote that wikipedia article!
18: yes, I used that example because I think they should be teased for it.
And, similarly, I am inclined to tease Tim Burke when he says that the problems with the Democratic party could be addressed by having presidential candidates with a bolder vision.
Hey teo, is it important to you that a blog with book reviews be entirely yours? Because I'm one of two active writers at a blog that's mostly book reviews, and I think the things you're interested in would complement what we do.
If you might be interested, let me know and I'll consult with my co-blogger to see what she thinks.
Thanks Doug! I have a specific concept for this blog that I think means I'd prefer to have it be a stand-alone, but I'll give your offer some thought and let you know.
Thanks and you're welcome!
(If it somehow isn't obvs, the link in my comments takes you to the blog in question.)
Yes, I've been looking through it and I don't think it's quite a match for what I have in mind. I appreciate the offer though!
I'm aiming to read a bunch of this book in the next few days. There's a book about organizational failure that I liked, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.
One particular style of failure to communicate is basically a refusal to listen-- if a problem is not acknowledged by a bad manager, its existence can be denied by that manager. Getting rid of functioning channels of communication is a management feature, not a bug until whatever it is blows up or higher-ups become interested.
I loved that book. It gave me a great framework to think about user feedback and user silence.
It's just now occurring to me that the infinite coastline paradox is really a metaphor about decision making! Do not try to literally gather all information if you need to make the decision in finite time.
Incidentally, Dan Davies just wrote about the phrase, "the purpose of a system is what it does " -- both the value he sees in the aphorism and the way it can be misleading: https://backofmind.substack.com/p/the-purpose-of-a-system-is-you-cant
I liked that a lot, because the aphorism as I see it used tends to throw me a bit.
Yes, I thought of you when I saw that post (and I think your concerns/confusion were understandable).
That's a great post, especially this bit:
It's a great slogan, and I don't think I'm going to stop using it occasionally. But it seems to cause lots and lots of confusion, and if that's what it does, then ... well, it's not really available to argue that this is unfair, or the fact that it's systematically achieving a result other than the one intended can be ignored.
Heh, as they (used to?) say.
Like a lot of tautological and near tautological statements, it isn't so much a useful description of the world as a useful prompt for analysis. (Like a rather pithier one which I prefer, "the standard you walk past is the standard you accept".)
"the standard you walk past is the standard you accept"
That would also work for "standard" meaning flag.
Ever since you mentioned 35 in that post about aphorisms, I've wondered how much you see correcting online wrongness as a key piece of the moral obligation (?) of not accepting low standards.
37: I know that's why I do it. It has nothing to do with being easily trolled.
I do think of misstatements of fact as a sort of litter, it's true. If it's something that's difficult to check then it is excusable.
If it's something that's false and easily checked, then putting it out there without checking - putting it into everyone else's minds as true - is kind of like chucking your rubbish on to the street- it's lazy and it harms everyone else.
"If we do not penalise false statements made in error, we open up the way for false statements by intention. And a false statement of fact, made deliberately, is the most serious crime a scientist can commit."
CP Snow, quoted in "Gaudy Night"
But what if, in defense of truth, a guy gets driven from his job and to his death leaving behind an unhinged widow with two children and some very advanced slut-shaming tendencies?
I mean, in modern university Annie would have a faculty post, a fellowship at a conservative think tank, and a highly active Twitter account.
I kept playing around with the aphorisms and ended up with "you are your revealed preference for the change you wish to see in the world."
The real preference was the friends you revealed along the way.
I did decide to stick with Wordpress for the new blog, and wow does it ever suck these days. Just constantly trying to upsell you to a paid plan throughout the setup process.