Friday, June 21, 2013
Parkinson again
In my pointless comments on the NSA/GCHQ mess, I've been focusing on Parkinson's Laws. You can't expect to rein in these bureaucracies by mere laws and regulations. Their only law is INFINITE EXPANSION, and any new technology that requires BIG MONEY will be adopted and used to the max to justify the "need" for BIG MONEY.
Today's UK Telegraph article on GCHQ features an aerial photo that keys into another Parkinson law. Old Parky observed that organizations housed in a dingy basement, or a jumble of ill-fitted buildings, were lively and devoted to a real purpose. When an organization finally gets its superfancy highly architected highly specialized flashy new building, you know it's effectively dead. It has outrun its original purpose, and it will continue spinning faster and faster with no proper goals or directions.
Sure enough, you can see the original WW2 barracks where serious and ingenious decoding of Kraut messages played a major part in ending a horrible war. And in the foreground you see the highly architected supermodern building, resembling a 1970's removable disk pack, spinning faster and faster.
All you need is Parkinson.
= = = = =
And a few days later, headline in UK Telegraph:
Spy agencies win millions more to fight terror threat
All you need is Parkinson.
¶ 5:58 PM 
