Rita McGrath: “Remember the ‘price’ of not taking action. When assessing investments, people often commit what is sometimes called the Parmenides fallacy. It means that they compare what is today with some uncertain future. Unfortunately, the right comparison is what will a future be like when we don’t make essential investments with the future when we do. If competitors stay ahead of you on technology and you don’t invest, eventually that will show up in your becoming uncompetitive.”
Jim Buchanan: “The market economy, as an aggregation, neither maximizes nor minimizes anything. It simply allows participants to pursue that which they value, subject to the preferences and endowments of others, and within the constraints of general “rules of the game” that allow, and provide incentives for, individuals to try out new ways of doing things. There is simply no “external,” independently defined objective against which the results of market processes can be evaluated.” [via CafeHayek]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writing about Hitler’s rise: “Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity. … The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other. The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances. The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.” [from “On Stupidity”, via Annie Holmquist] More: “Against stupidity we have no defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it. Reasoning is of no use. Facts that contradict personal prejudices can simply be disbelieved — indeed, the fool can counter by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied. In fact, they can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make them aggressive. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.” [via Peter Burns]
Read: Suspect, by Scott Turow. A good thriller. (check to make sure I haven’t posted any of these previously.)
