My friend David Boxenhorn has made a major contribution to the issue of two moral systems that I have struggled so hard with. I am always uncomfortable with the whole idea of moral systems inside of amoral systems (commerce is amoral but commercial people operate with values different from traditional values). I'm uncomfortable with the idea of morals in the first place, they can't be explicated.
David's brilliant solution is described by him:
"In system design there is a very powerful concept called Loose Coupling. Its purpose is to facilitate building large systems. The problem with large systems is the complexity of the interdependencies - if you don't manage them carefully you easily get into a situation where you can't do anything, because changing any little thing has ramifications throughout the system. Loose Coupling is the solution to this problem. It involves modularizing the system such that the interface of each module (i.e. how it can interact with other modules) is clearly defined and as simple as possible. That way, when you make a change, you only have to worry about ramifications within the module. Perhaps more important, you can easily substitute one module for another. All a module has to do to fit into the system is implement the correct interface.
"Commerce is the same idea applied to social systems. Commerce aims to simplify relationships between people (or firms) for exactly the same reason - to facilitate building large systems. As with Loose Coupling, one of the hallmarks of commerce is competition - i.e. the ability to substitute one supplier for another.
"Politics, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite of commerce. It aims to make relationships complex. It aims to reduce or eliminate competition. (When politics succeeds completely in eliminating competition, we call it bureaucracy.) And, finally, it results in the inability to build large systems.
"Until now, I was uncomfortable with the opposition between traditional and commercial moral systems, but now I see that this description is exactly right. Traditional societies are small-scale, and the system of morality that tradition has bequeathed us perfectly suits it. You would not want to use commercial morality with your spouse, your family, or even larger groups, such as your coworkers in a firm. But as we scale up, the system breaks down. There are too many people with too many agendas. However, by combining traditional and commercial morality we can have a complete moral system and achieve the best of both worlds. Social groups should be small enough to make traditional morality work, and between groups we should use commercial morality."
David's concepts are perfect for describing my observations. Commerce has become global because it is based on simple and clear requirements for interactions between people and firms. Loose coupling. Where David uses the opposite of commerce as politics I use 'traditional tribal relations' as the opposite of commerce which is close to 'politics'.
I will go back to my original idea number 15 and make it a joint idea with David.
David's brilliant solution is described by him:
"Commerce is the same idea applied to social systems. Commerce aims to simplify relationships between people (or firms) for exactly the same reason - to facilitate building large systems. As with Loose Coupling, one of the hallmarks of commerce is competition - i.e. the ability to substitute one supplier for another.
"Until now, I was uncomfortable with the opposition between traditional and commercial moral systems, but now I see that this description is exactly right. Traditional societies are small-scale, and the system of morality that tradition has bequeathed us perfectly suits it. You would not want to use commercial morality with your spouse, your family, or even larger groups, such as your coworkers in a firm. But as we scale up, the system breaks down. There are too many people with too many agendas. However, by combining traditional and commercial morality we can have a complete moral system and achieve the best of both worlds. Social groups should be small enough to make traditional morality work, and between groups we should use commercial morality."
David's concepts are perfect for describing my observations. Commerce has become global because it is based on simple and clear requirements for interactions between people and firms. Loose coupling. Where David uses the opposite of commerce as politics I use 'traditional tribal relations' as the opposite of commerce which is close to 'politics'.
I will go back to my original idea number 15 and make it a joint idea with David.