Game in the Brain

Ouch. The news is bad, and sadly its something that can be avoided if not for the inherent “gamable” factors found within many gov’ts and people. Bystander Effect, Bounded Rationality, Lobbying (see Public Choice), Confirmation Bias to name many other barriers for seeing Facts for what they are.

What is sad about these news is that, if you can cut through all these cognitive barriers there is a world where sustainable growth is possible but at the cost of entrenched powers declining, and greater individual liberties and influence. We are in an age where automation is an obvious doom for low skilled labor, but there is more complicated industries yet to be unveiled as the economy shifts to greater and greater automation.

Lets get back to what kind of world, I believe, we live in – in the brink of a space age – where we can harvest the resources outside earth at a scale that would dwarf our own current resource capabilities. I sound like a sci-fi nut, but I hope that I can convince you of my logistics credentials.

Economies need direction, and it doesn’t matter how attainable it is or over/undervalued that goal it is. The direction matters, but now the nitty-gritty: how to spend that money. China is a lesson that even with all that resources there will always be people who will game it, especially when there is no democratic checks and balances and transparency. You can pour a ton of money into something and it may or may not work, but if you are transparent and give due process even if it is painfully slow and political the economy moves.

That’s the thing, transparency is an annoying inevitability that requires people to sacrifice some privacy for accountability. Since no one really plays by the rules, anyone who steps into the role will be assaulted in all aspects of their life, despite the privacy they deserve in their private lives. Still for so much power – this is a negligible cost because of the amount of lives it can affect.

Basic Standard of Living – this is something people will have to think about more – like the many outrageous religious or NGOs who use it to make wealth and not provide the service they gain tax benefits to encourage them to do, a simple Standard of Living check cuts through the Information barrier. In China officials are now being monitored for breaches as such, I can understand using it as a measure of indiscretion but there should be a better way to filter such.

As part of BSL, we look at education and poverty alleviation. With the internet, learning online and accessing Professors and Classes physically too distant has been bridged. The cheaper the internet and the better the inter-connectivity the more accessible services and education can become. With location not mattering, housing and community can grow according to the economic advantages and trade-offs regions can offer.

The work and jobs that would yield so much future growth that is bankable is in people and their wellfare. Such massive expenses attract Sharks like blood on water, and there is so many ways to game such a system – still Transparency, education, and personal empowerment, help break up the power of special interest lobbying that exploit the weakest link.

Its just sad because people still suffer, while the tools that can ease and alleviate it is behind a barrier of poverty, politics, and ignorance.