The Age of Unreason

The Gun in the Room again...

How frightful our ignorance is! How horrified we would be if we knew that the laws we support make our problems worse. How dismayed we would be if we discovered that time, patience, and doing nothing but allowing individuals to work by themselves on the problems would have alleviated them.

But no. Instead we see that the law invokes power, and power makes things happen. If we want energy efficiency, pass a law and mandate it. Manufacturers will have to make their engines more efficient. If we want less energy loss, pass a law and mandate tighter windows or more insulation or more efficient furnaces. Builders will have to obey. Sure, prices may rise, we will have to pay, but we will save energy. The law solves our problems. We can see that it does. If new problems should arise, pass new laws. What’s to stop us? We feel good. We are doing something, and we do not want to hear anything that might disturb us in the comfort of our belief.
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By such logic and belief, the law is become mankind’s main tool of progress. Our wise laws are what drive progress onwards. So we think, and so we err. Our machines have advanced faster than our thinking has.

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Ripped from the Zone.