Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Enforcement

I doubt anyone would have a problem with getting feedback about their impact on the wellbeing and future of our species. Where I do expect resistance is in the enforcement of behavior that supports it.

Governments don’t just coordinate behavior; they force people to adhere to their laws. In my ideal world, the “central processor” would simply consider actions that adversely impact the longevity and wellbeing of individuals and the species as part of the “problem” whose solution it is facilitating. There are, after all, people who derive their sense of wellbeing from hurting or killing others (serial murderers come to mind), and parts of society would be called on to restrict their destructive behavior. This is obviously just a theoretical description of the policing functions already in place in most countries; but in this case, rather than having the central processor (“government”) retain the power of enforcement, the methods used would be left to the people most capable of dealing with the behavior.

No comments: