Very very sorry Glen You said “as a people”.
There was no need for my reply. E > On Nov 12, 2019, at 10:04 AM, Eric Smith <desm...@santafe.edu> wrote: > > Good thread; far more than I can process. > > But… (from Glen’s anecdote) > >> This episode challenged my understanding of infrastructure. I don't think >> Renee's alone in this. I've heard people complain of the tiniest things >> about their public trans trips ... someone smacking their food ... someone >> with body odor ... the drunk guy passed out on the seat ... someone clipping >> their toenails ... etc. They all sound like rationalizations, to me. >> Whatever the deeper cause, there's something about us as a people that >> prevents effective sharing. So, I'm now considering changing all my advocacy >> from public transportation to massive swarms of publicly owned, >> self-driving, electric cars. And I'll start trashing Amtrak and Portland's >> TriMet every chance I get. 8^) > > Not “as people”. As Americans. Important, I think, to acknowledge how > malleable this is, and the role of culture (including institutions). > > Live by the train systems in Japan for a while, and you are smacked in the > face by the broken culture that Americans seem to believe is an irredeemable > human condition. Come back to a city like Atlanta, and the impulse to blame > that “you people aren’t even trying” is all but irresistable. A transition > back to New York is still somewhat harsh, but not to the same degree. > > The same can be said, for that matter, of cost control in the medical system. > A person to whom I am connected had a ligament-replacement surgery done to > reconstruct a joint, with a week in-hospital (because the Japanese hate to > take unnecessary risks of anything), by a specialst who has trained and > worked for decades in both Japan and the UK, and the most-caring hospital > staff. It cost me 1000 dollars, and about 1/3 had been covered by national > insurance. I think in the US, without coverage (which is the relevant > situation in this case), a similar quality of treatment would have cost me > more than my whole after-tax income for half a year. > > If those are the stress-testing cases, think of what the difference can be in > behavior on the street, and in other ordinary interactions. > > American culture needs a hard kick in the ass, and an admonition to grow up, > because we no longer have the slack to live like this and survive it. There > are plenty of American people who are not the sources of that broken culture, > and they already get kicked too much, so I don’t mean that. But the view > that, while there are problems that will remain to afflict people under any > case, still so much better an effort _can_ be made. > > I constantly think of the saying “You know the ship's only in trouble if the > sailors stop swearing”. Probably literally not true, but makes a point. I > wonder what it would look like if Americans woke up to realize that the ship > is in trouble. > > Best to all, > > Eric > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
