Welcome To The Death Of Authority Or Giving People What They Really Want {previously unpublished}
[Unknown to most of you, I write at least 3 posts a week on this blog. I just don't publish them (for various reasons, usually because they are just not good or the ideas not totally thought out.) But this week I am going to publish some of them Just because I probably will never finish them and you may get something out of them.]
[written sept. 24, 2008]
Like you, I don’t know much about global economics.
But I didn’t need to read page 225 of Taleb’s bestseller “The Black Swan” to know that global banking and the economy were vulnerable to collapse.
20th Century strategies don’t work to solve 21st Century problems.
Welcome to the death of authority.
Few go to the doctor anymore looking for answers. In an information/idea society everyone already knows the possible cures. Doctors are now just corner drug dealers with a better staff.
Most of the messes we in the US are dealing with today have much to do with trying to carry 20th Century thinking into a 21st Century, knowledge/idea based world.
The 20th Century wars, whether economically or physically, were won by brute force. Hence, machine guns and Microsoft.
In the 21st Century, wars, whether economically or physically, are won not by hoarding assets and crushing enemies (very 20th century!), but giving knowledge away and having “strong opinions, weakly held”. Hence the modern success of Google and terrorism.
The differences between 21st Century winners and losers have as much to do with outside collaboration as inside talent.
Here’s the one thing to remember as you make your personal and business 21st Century decisions:
People don’t want choices. They want power.
Remind your banker.
p.s.- the only way to get power these days is by giving it away.
Tags: choices, dr. koop, Drug Dealers, Economics, google, microsoft, previously unpublished, terrorism, The Black Swan
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September 29, 2008 at 3:09 am
Wow.
The line about people wanting power and not choices is true. I never thought about that. Very thought provoking. You need to publish more gems like that!
September 29, 2008 at 3:09 am
Keep posting – we will take half baked…
Your insights are missed – we can fill in the gaps.
September 29, 2008 at 10:34 am
Thanks Mark. But never give a person permission to give you half-baked ideas. They will!
September 29, 2008 at 2:27 pm
“Doctors are now just corner drug dealers with a better staff.” + “The 20th Century wars, whether economically or physically, were won by brute force. Hence, machine guns and Microsoft.” = $ Quotes
I like your reverse psychology/damsel-in-distress tactic…”i’m blogging all the time, just not publishing…”
Keep giving us the good stuff…
September 30, 2008 at 3:16 am
“half-baked” was the wrong term – you are right there. But as Voltaire wrote, “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien”. The perfect is the enemy of the good. We need good thinking – always…
October 1, 2008 at 9:30 am
Unvarnished, I love it. Breaks through to new thoughts.
October 20, 2008 at 11:55 am
WOW! People don’t want choices they want power…. right on. By the way, where is the RSS feed for your blog?