A mini review of Dr Sowell’s book: Intellectuals and Society, by Thomas Sowell
In such a tumultuous time politically, it feels easy to let our own emotions, or the words of those we see as on a higher intellectual plane, dictate how we see the world. Dr. Sowell does an exceptional job of looking at and dissecting the Intellectuals words throughout the history of America and the western world in general. When Sowell says “Intellectual,” he specifically means those whose final products are ideas.
The most damning point that Dr. Sowell makes is that unlike other careers who work or think on a high intellectual plane, such as doctors, engineers, or architects, the “Intellectuals” who’s end products are ideas rarely, if ever, end up being held accountable for when said ideas don’t work in practice. In fact, these ideas have in fact had devastating effects around the world, and caused millions upon millions of lives to be wrecked or downright destroyed.
Intellectuals and Society, by Thomas Sowell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyufeHJlodE
Re: Coronavirus and the Prospect of a Society Run by Experts
Title is headed into a pivotal subject.
Grampa Dave, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread, was Sowell’s “Intellectuals and Society”.
Thing is, this Coronavirus situation shows that the same values that make a capitalistic society successful should have been applied to this pandemic, and here’s why, IMO.
In a planned economy such as the Soviet Union, you get a specific group of people making economic decisions. Those experts understood what was going on in Moscow, but had no idea of what Ukranians wanted. And the economic result was no toilet paper, a lot of shoe laces, and no wealth being generated.
In a capitalistic economy people everywhere who hold a dollar bill in their hand can make an economic decision with that dollar bill. Individual people make stupid decisions, but when millions of people start voting with that dollar, you usually get the right movement in the economy, wealth is created, and people get to buy their kid the GI-Joe with the Kung Fu grip.
In this current situation, such as we have in Washington and throughout the nation, you have a specific group of people making risk decisions FOR people. The equivalent of those Moscow ‘Experts’. So what we get is a destroyed economy, people being treated like criminals, and squandered and misallocated resources.
If people were allowed to make their own decisions they way they would in a capitalistic economy, instead of a dollar bill, they would have their own well being in their hand and that would be their vote. If people were allowed to make that analysis of risk and need the way a capitalist would, the water would find their own level. I guarantee you, if we got something like the Black Plague where there was a 40% mortality rate, they wouldn’t have to pass laws and have people held prisoner in their own homes. Those people would do it quite on their own, and might well do their own quarantine enforcing with their own weapons to ensure nobody would break THEIR quarantine.
We have two extremes described here, one where the proclaimed experts get to make all the choices including the wrong and tyrannical ones, and people get to make those choices themselves, dying or living by their own choice.
The water will find its own self-regulating level, and we wouldn’t have governments stepping on the rights of its citizens. People would make that voluntary decision and self-quarantine if that was the result of their own risk analysis.