We are locked within the tyranny of the administrative state, governed by the administrative system. What is the alternative? It is to once again be ruled directly by men.
Great article, Kruptos. Even in business where system and process has achieved incredible feats (think lean manufacturing of Toyota Production System), the inevitable long-term mediocrity (competency crisis) is what enables leader and skill centric startups to so easily disrupt an industry. Huge potential for anybody who stops regarding labor as a commodity and synthesizes guild-like journeymen as employee owners with the best that system and process affords e.g. quality.
Yes. Its great to write something and then have someone catch the vision and be able to picture it in their heads. You are absolutely right. Tremendous potential, but it will be a journey getting there because the system strives to enframe us.
I mean, this kind of already exists in the form of the Mondragon Corp in Spain. Workers of the various coop subsidiaries are all employee owners and are basically craftsmen because the coops prioritize continuity. It's a miracle they've survived almost 70 years against a globalized capitalist third world slave labor system.
A truly remarkable piece of written work. This opened up something completely new to me, a broader sense of understanding the 'system' is valuable and can be applied.
Whether with nature or technology, humans succumb to a sacral awe of the powers which govern their destiny and rob them of their freedom and capacity for critical reflection. This awe turns them into slaves sacrificing and serving their new idols. A society of techniques undermines human freedom by requiring that we always choose the most rationally efficient techniques for every endeavor. No business or society can afford to choose a less efficient solution for fear of being rendered obsolete by their competitors. Even as once political ritual, in ancient Rome and elsewhere, mediated the divine favors granted by nature’s deities, so today, says Ellul, politics serves the technical myth of utopia by providing the collection of rituals that create the illusion of control over the favors granted by technique. And yet we discover that contemporary political rituals involve holding hearings from technical experts who can advise politicians on the most efficient techniques which can be used to solve our problems. Technical necessity continues to reign while utopian fantasy, Ellul argues, “is a consolation in the face of slavery, and an escape from something one is unable to prevent. . . . Whenever men have taken utopian descriptions seriously, the result has been disastrous” (“Search for an Image,” in Images of the Future, ed., Robert Bundy (Buffalo N.Y: Prometheus Books, 1976) pp. 24-25.”
“Technique encompasses the totality of present-day society,” wrote Ellul. “Man is caught like a fly in a bottle. His attempts at culture, freedom, and creative endeavour have become mere entries in technique’s filing cabinet.”
Kruptos- When it comes to certain domains such as defense, would it be corrosive to involve "the technical" into some aspects of society like making tanks as long as we were people and reality based in other domains (edu, food, church, law, etc.)?
You have to at some level be prepared to defend yourselves. This falls into the "necessity" of technology. I think we would have to understand that the goal would not be to beat the regime at its own game, but to do your best to maximize other elements that would give you an advantage similar to what the Taliban did in Afghanistan. There is the question of how to produce them in ways that do there best to enhance human flourishing. These are the right questions to be thinking about and to realize that there are answers outside of the current frame. Technology is not the only answer. It an answer, a powerful one. Many victories have been won by the side with technical superiority. But I suspect it is not the only answer.
What kind of man is fit for such a system? It seems we are back to the moral and religious. Is any but a self governed man fit to be given such liberty, and responsibility?
Meanwhile it is quite likely that Donald Trump who dramatizes zero evidence of self mastery may be the next US President.
And how is that going to occur in the US which is now in a state of collective fragmentation.
Who and what institution is/are going to provide the necessary means for such a trance-formation. The kind of Christian true believers and their institutional leaders who enthusiastically participate in the MAGA cult!
In the traditional Indian Hindu cultural milieu it was recognized that the only real path to self-mastery was devotion and obedience to the instructions/guidance of a Spiritual Master. Such a possibility is of course anathema to the I-did-it-my-way anti-cultural ethos of American's in particular and Westerners altogether.
Great article, Kruptos. Even in business where system and process has achieved incredible feats (think lean manufacturing of Toyota Production System), the inevitable long-term mediocrity (competency crisis) is what enables leader and skill centric startups to so easily disrupt an industry. Huge potential for anybody who stops regarding labor as a commodity and synthesizes guild-like journeymen as employee owners with the best that system and process affords e.g. quality.
Yes. Its great to write something and then have someone catch the vision and be able to picture it in their heads. You are absolutely right. Tremendous potential, but it will be a journey getting there because the system strives to enframe us.
I mean, this kind of already exists in the form of the Mondragon Corp in Spain. Workers of the various coop subsidiaries are all employee owners and are basically craftsmen because the coops prioritize continuity. It's a miracle they've survived almost 70 years against a globalized capitalist third world slave labor system.
It cool to find examples of making different models work. It can be done here as well.
In my opinion, a good source of memorable rules and customs is the Bible.
It worked well for the Puritans during the early days of New England.
Fantastic piece.
Thanks!
That architectural diagram is extraordinary
Isn't it though? They talked about those ratios in terms of "sacred geometry."
“To do this, we must first understand exactly what the administrative state is at its core.”
I think this also serves to flesh out 3rd revolution in the so-called “degeneration of castes,” which, of course, Marx and others hastened to advance…
caste: vaishya
class: bourgeois/merchant
ethic: utilitarianism
thought quality: abstract, algorithmic
institutions: science, economics, government, bureaucracy
summum bonum: efficiency
A truly remarkable piece of written work. This opened up something completely new to me, a broader sense of understanding the 'system' is valuable and can be applied.
Thanks, Simon. I am glad you found it insightful.
Whether with nature or technology, humans succumb to a sacral awe of the powers which govern their destiny and rob them of their freedom and capacity for critical reflection. This awe turns them into slaves sacrificing and serving their new idols. A society of techniques undermines human freedom by requiring that we always choose the most rationally efficient techniques for every endeavor. No business or society can afford to choose a less efficient solution for fear of being rendered obsolete by their competitors. Even as once political ritual, in ancient Rome and elsewhere, mediated the divine favors granted by nature’s deities, so today, says Ellul, politics serves the technical myth of utopia by providing the collection of rituals that create the illusion of control over the favors granted by technique. And yet we discover that contemporary political rituals involve holding hearings from technical experts who can advise politicians on the most efficient techniques which can be used to solve our problems. Technical necessity continues to reign while utopian fantasy, Ellul argues, “is a consolation in the face of slavery, and an escape from something one is unable to prevent. . . . Whenever men have taken utopian descriptions seriously, the result has been disastrous” (“Search for an Image,” in Images of the Future, ed., Robert Bundy (Buffalo N.Y: Prometheus Books, 1976) pp. 24-25.”
“Technique encompasses the totality of present-day society,” wrote Ellul. “Man is caught like a fly in a bottle. His attempts at culture, freedom, and creative endeavour have become mere entries in technique’s filing cabinet.”
Yes! People cannot see that it is the technical system within which we now live and move and have our being.
Kruptos- When it comes to certain domains such as defense, would it be corrosive to involve "the technical" into some aspects of society like making tanks as long as we were people and reality based in other domains (edu, food, church, law, etc.)?
You have to at some level be prepared to defend yourselves. This falls into the "necessity" of technology. I think we would have to understand that the goal would not be to beat the regime at its own game, but to do your best to maximize other elements that would give you an advantage similar to what the Taliban did in Afghanistan. There is the question of how to produce them in ways that do there best to enhance human flourishing. These are the right questions to be thinking about and to realize that there are answers outside of the current frame. Technology is not the only answer. It an answer, a powerful one. Many victories have been won by the side with technical superiority. But I suspect it is not the only answer.
What kind of man is fit for such a system? It seems we are back to the moral and religious. Is any but a self governed man fit to be given such liberty, and responsibility?
The heart of self-government is self-mastery.
It is the only way.
He who masters himself is greater than he who takes a city.
Tall order.
Meanwhile it is quite likely that Donald Trump who dramatizes zero evidence of self mastery may be the next US President.
And how is that going to occur in the US which is now in a state of collective fragmentation.
Who and what institution is/are going to provide the necessary means for such a trance-formation. The kind of Christian true believers and their institutional leaders who enthusiastically participate in the MAGA cult!
In the traditional Indian Hindu cultural milieu it was recognized that the only real path to self-mastery was devotion and obedience to the instructions/guidance of a Spiritual Master. Such a possibility is of course anathema to the I-did-it-my-way anti-cultural ethos of American's in particular and Westerners altogether.
For many, Donald Trump would not be their preferred candidate but he is far superior to what the other party has to offer.
As an aside, not all conversations deal with Donald Trump. Have a wonderful day.