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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: May 05, 2003 Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions? (Jared Diamond) -- "What I'm going to suggest is a road map of factors in failures of group decision making. I'll divide the answers into a sequence of four somewhat fuzzily delineated categories. First of all, a group may fail to anticipate a problem before the problem actually arrives. Secondly, when the problem arrives, the group may fail to perceive the problem. Then, after they perceive the problem, they may fail even to try to solve the problem. Finally, they may try to solve it but may fail in their attempts to do so. While all this talking about reasons for failure and collapses of society may seem pessimistic, the flip side is optimistic: namely, successful decision-making." (Comments: Jared Diamond wrote Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies, which really kicked ass.)
Reader Comments...
Thanks for posting this! The article Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions? isn't one of Diamond's best pieces, but the links on the page are excellent. Bill Gates gives an excellent summary of Diamond's great book Guns, Germs and Steel. Diamond's How to Get Rich is not personal financial / business advice but a well-argued essay on the benefits of competition and disadvantages of monopolies (principally stagnation), especially at the level of governments - it's a very strong argument against Euro-federalism, world government, etc.
Individuals can't even choose the right mating partners, and we think a whole country is going to have its act together? Please. I thank Gumby that my garbage is picked up at the curb every Wednesday morning. Posted by: John Small Berries on May 6, 2003 11:51 PM
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