We little recognize that for which we trade our freedoms and abilities, for it is far more evanescent than the concrete benefits. It is easy to define a certain point, by which convergent vectors may be described; but divergent ones, too, point "somewhere." They may not describe a point, but they surely do describe something, indeed.
Consider, for instance, the TSA and the preservation of Homeland Security. We wait for interminable hours in the airports, to be screened and scrutinized. Surely, we can describe why we can do this - but we can only vaguely see why we should not. It is a waste of human time, multiplied by the hundred-thousand. For those who produce little, little is wasted. For those who produce much, a theft of even a few minutes is a theft nonetheless.
In the aggregate, what would the loss be to an economy, if one airline were to eliminate all the screening procedures, operate from its own airports to abstract the risk from the fellow-travelers, and act in the manner of a taxi service? Would it suffer the occasional plane being blown up - and if so, would that be a net financial loss, compared with the thousands of hours of human productivity saved?
That's an extreme example. But how often do we waste excellence in the service of mediocrity, and joyfully so?
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment