JM🇬🇧
Well ’Ard Member
I’ve just realised Nerak is Karen backwards, only took me a year.
I’ve recently been reading Thomas Sowell’s A Conflict Of Visions.
It’s a very interesting read, it postulates the idea that people’s differing beliefs come down to a fundamentally different understanding of human nature.
The unconstrained and constrained visions, or the utopian and tragic.
I suppose this partially explains why people think that you get more conservative as you get older, I don’t believe this is true but I do think that people develop more of the constrained worldview and understand people’s limitations, and understand that there are no solutions, only trade offs.
This is where things get interesting, I simply don’t trust young people who are conservative or who have a constrained vision of life.
You get 16 year old American kids who wear tweed and say “I believe in traditional values and I want to start a family!
Okay okay steady on, go and do some drugs, come back in 5 years and then start growing up, weirdo.
At the same time I trust even less people in their 50s and beyond who cling to the unconstrained vision, who have a utopian vision of life where everybody must adhere to their beliefs.
“If only everybody voted the way I did and did everything I said the world would be a much better place!”
I am very suspicious of people who never fully mature and understand the complexities of our societies and of human nature.
I distrust them immensely, truly I do.
I’ve recently been reading Thomas Sowell’s A Conflict Of Visions.
It’s a very interesting read, it postulates the idea that people’s differing beliefs come down to a fundamentally different understanding of human nature.
The unconstrained and constrained visions, or the utopian and tragic.
I suppose this partially explains why people think that you get more conservative as you get older, I don’t believe this is true but I do think that people develop more of the constrained worldview and understand people’s limitations, and understand that there are no solutions, only trade offs.
The unconstrained vision
Sowell argues that the unconstrained vision relies heavily on the belief that human nature is essentially good. Those with an unconstrained vision distrust decentralized processes and are impatient with large institutions and systemic processes that constrain human action. They believe there is an ideal solution to every problem, and that compromise is never acceptable. Collateral damage is merely the price of moving forward on the road to perfection. Sowell often refers to them as "the self anointed." Ultimately they believe that man is morally perfectible. Because of this, they believe that there exist some people who are further along the path of moral development, have overcome self-interest and are immune to the influence of power and therefore can act as surrogate decision-makers for the rest of society.The constrained vision
Sowell argues that the constrained vision relies heavily on the belief that human nature is essentially unchanging and that man is naturally inherently self-interested, regardless of the best intentions. Those with a constrained vision prefer the systematic processes of the rule of law and experience of tradition. Compromise is essential because there are no ideal solutions, only trade-offs. Those with a constrained vision favor empirical evidence and time-tested structures and processes over intervention and personal experience. Ultimately, the constrained vision demands checks and balances and refuses to accept that all people could put aside their innate self-interest.This is where things get interesting, I simply don’t trust young people who are conservative or who have a constrained vision of life.
You get 16 year old American kids who wear tweed and say “I believe in traditional values and I want to start a family!
Okay okay steady on, go and do some drugs, come back in 5 years and then start growing up, weirdo.
At the same time I trust even less people in their 50s and beyond who cling to the unconstrained vision, who have a utopian vision of life where everybody must adhere to their beliefs.
“If only everybody voted the way I did and did everything I said the world would be a much better place!”
I am very suspicious of people who never fully mature and understand the complexities of our societies and of human nature.
I distrust them immensely, truly I do.