Friday, November 04, 2011
Another must read
Niall Ferguson picks up Orlov's theme of collapse. Excellent writing, correct and accurate about every subject, sharp and comprehensible.
I can only quibble with one bit of his software metaphor, but the quibble actually improves his own argument:
Well, actually DOS was stable. It's Windows 7 that freezes and crashes every day. Which bolsters Ferguson's point: the modern American version of everything is fucked, including operating systems. ¶ 6:56 AM
I can only quibble with one bit of his software metaphor, but the quibble actually improves his own argument:
What we need to do is to delete the viruses that have crept into our system: the anticompetitive quasi monopolies that blight everything from banking to public education; the politically correct pseudosciences and soft subjects that deflect good students away from hard science; the lobbyists who subvert the rule of law for the sake of the special interests they represent—to say nothing of our crazily dysfunctional system of health care, our overleveraged personal finances, and our newfound unemployment ethic.
Then we need to download the updates that are running more successfully in other countries, from Finland to New Zealand, from Denmark to Hong Kong, from Singapore to Sweden.
And finally we need to reboot our whole system.
I refuse to accept that Western civilization is like some hopeless old version of Microsoft DOS, doomed to freeze, then crash.
Well, actually DOS was stable. It's Windows 7 that freezes and crashes every day. Which bolsters Ferguson's point: the modern American version of everything is fucked, including operating systems. ¶ 6:56 AM
