Smash The System: What's wrong with systems?
From Unfocusgroup.org
All societies need systems. As any group of people grows into a civilisation, it invariably requires common rules of law and order and agriculture, and some form of policy-making and trading system. This is a good thing.
However, systems often take on a life of their own, and become intractable and abstract. In the case of the UK, the system has become so unwieldy that it no longer serves the needs of people. It has actually become quite inhumane.
- The collapse of the banking system has shown that blind faith in a system, beyond our better judgement, leads to catastrophe. It was obvious to any human being that the cycle of lending and asset bubbles made no sense; however, as late as 2007, anybody who called for reason was seen as "not getting it".
- Tick-box targets for hospitals.
- Race-equality laws that simply cause resentment and further fuel racism.
- Human-rights laws that are so impossible to understand that they are meaningless.
- An arcane tax system that even the tax office don't understand.
A nation of automata
Worst of all, once a system is in place, people have a tendency to become subservient to these systems. It's fine when the system makes sense, but there is often a lack of collective awareness of when things don't make sense. People follow the rules in a ritualistic, unquestioning manner. It's human nature to want to be part of the group. And society does certainly need drones, but it also requires individual brilliance. All too often, this brilliance is stifled by the system.
Furthermore, the systems in place today - everything from vetting to bans on alcohol - are far too restrictive, and further remove human judgement from many aspects of civic life. This dehumanising effect leads to a "computer says no" culture, which most of us have experienced already in our lives - failed credit checks for no reason, or intractable bureaucratic rules that prevent perfectly reasonable behaviour. This is getting worse with government interference.
It seems to have been forgotten that the systems should be there to support human behaviour - not to define it.
A waste of time
The industrial and technological infrastructure of our modern world is amazing. Without it, we would not have medical science, food security, and global movement of goods and people.
However, an increasing proportion of the population is engaged in non-productive, administrative activities such as rubber-stamping, health and safety legislation and equal opportunities. We argue that this is wishy-washy and a complete waste of time that could be spent more productively in feeding the world's poor and building their techological infrastructure. We could also use our efforts to improve the environment, improve global equality and make the world an actual better place.
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