All the best,
Tj
On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 1:42 AM, Gar Lipow <gar.lipow at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 8, 2012 at 1:22 PM, Tayssir John Gabbour <tjg at pentaside.org>wrote:
>
>> Good arguments against using meritocracy to allocate decisionmaking power.
>>
>> The real joke is that we're not such a miserably moronic species that
>> we need such invasive meritocracies. People are far more competent
>> than we think:
>>
>
>
> The term "Meritocracy" was intended satirically when coined (Michael
> Young, Rise of the Meritocracy). - shorten version of Amazon link:
> http://amzn.to/Nnw3VX
>
> But it is still worth noting that our elites have degenerated. To take one
> random example, if the man in the grey flannel suit was still around,
> instead of ignoring the climate crisis, he would take advantage of it - not
> to do the right thing, but something along the line of paving the planet
> with nuclear power plants. (So maybe it is a good thing that time has
> passed.) What do our elites do? Fund junk science, or use crisis to
> promote CDM! Awful, but a pale shadow of the way our elites would have
> taken advantage of this crisis in their prime. Of course they have grown
> flabby because they don't need vigor. Without effective opposition, they
> can do what the hell they want. (I hope that this is changing and the
> Occupy movement remains a hopeful sign.) They can pick and choose which
> crisis to take advantage of - no longer need to grab every opportunity
> that comes along.
>
>>
>> "Numerous studies over the past thirty years have shown that when
>> people of any age and any ability level are faced with mathematical
>> challenges that arise naturally in a real-world context that has
>> meaning for them, and where the outcome directly matters to them,
>> they rapidly achieve a high level of competence. How high?
>> Typically 98 percent, that's how high. [...] I also provide an
>> explanation of why those same people, when presented with the very
>> same mathematical challenges in a traditional paper-and-pencil
>> classroom fashion, perform at a lowly 37 percent level."
>>
>> — Keith Devin, http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_06_10.html
>>
>> (The nice thing about Participatory Economics is that it brings up
>> meritocracy early, and provides arguments why we'd want to reject it
>> for allocating decisionmaking power.)
>>
>> When I'm personally subject to a foolishly "meritocratic" system, it's
>> clear that it's competitive; so there's enormous pressures to hoard
>> knowledge and let many problems (which few know how to quickly solve)
>> fester.
>>
>>
>> All the best,
>> Tj
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 8, 2012 at 5:09 PM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> > Are we supposed to believe that our current plight lies with the nature
>> of the meritocracy, rather than its simple existence in a capitalist
>> framework? Has the meritocracy "gone wrong?"
>> >
>> > http://www.thenation.com/article/168265/why-elites-fail?rel=emailNation
>> >
>> > Twilight of the Elites: A Conversation with Christopher Hayes and
>> Katrina vanden Heuvel
>> >
>> > Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:00
>> p.m.
>> > Over the past decade, Americans watched in bafflement and rage as one
>> institution after another—from Wall Street to Congress, the Catholic Church
>> to corporate America, even Major League baseball—imploded under the weight
>> of corruption and incompetence.
>> > In the wake of these failures, Americans have historically low levels of
>> trust in their institutions. The social contract between ordinary citizens
>> and elites lies in tatters. How did we get here? With his new book,
>> Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy, MSNBC host and Nation
>> editor at large Christopher Hayes offers a radically novel answer.
>> >
>> > Join us for a conversation between Christopher Hayes and Nation magazine
>> editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel about social distance, the new
>> American elite, and ways we can bring about change. A welcome and
>> introductions will be offered by David Scobey, executive dean of The New
>> School for Public Engagement.
>> >
>> > Sponsored by The Nation and The New School.
>> > ___________________________________
>> > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>>
>> ___________________________________
>> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>>
>
>
>
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