Comments on: The Great Divide http://larison.org/2006/11/06/the-great-divide/ n. the principle of good order "Observe the strange inversion of all order and sense! Dignity debased; how vilely is the function of a consul prostituted!" ~The Craftsman Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:13:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Grumpy Old Man http://larison.org/2006/11/06/the-great-divide/#comment-5010 Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:27:45 +0000 http://larison.org/2006/11/06/the-great-divide/#comment-5010 Capitalism, of course, is revolutionary, and often in unpleasant ways. Yet we would not be exchanging our thoughts in the blogosphere if technological change were an unmitigated evil. Try living without a pubic water supply and cholera will educate you about the importance of those pumps and pipes. With Thoreau, we can justly be concerned that the we don't ride the railroad, the railroad rides on us, but with Hayek, I, for one, suspect we are largely ignorant of how to regulate the economy and I fear the effects on human freedom if we do so in the heavy-handed fashion that will tempt us, given our ignorance and the nature of political decision-making. The alternative, I suppose, is to hope for decisions by individuals and small groups to opt out of the maniacal pursuit of things bigger, faster, and glossier, and hope that these decisions result in something more than a class of Bourgeois Bohemians. Capitalism, of course, is revolutionary, and often in unpleasant ways. Yet we would not be exchanging our thoughts in the blogosphere if technological change were an unmitigated evil. Try living without a pubic water supply and cholera will educate you about the importance of those pumps and pipes.

With Thoreau, we can justly be concerned that the we don’t ride the railroad, the railroad rides on us, but with Hayek, I, for one, suspect we are largely ignorant of how to regulate the economy and I fear the effects on human freedom if we do so in the heavy-handed fashion that will tempt us, given our ignorance and the nature of political decision-making.

The alternative, I suppose, is to hope for decisions by individuals and small groups to opt out of the maniacal pursuit of things bigger, faster, and glossier, and hope that these decisions result in something more than a class of Bourgeois Bohemians.

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