Unplanned Social Engineering

http://theseagypsyphilosopher.blogspot.ca/2017/01/social-engineering-for-fun-and-profit.html got me thinking about unplanned social engineering.

Nobody planned anything. It is all reactionary. Just like Politics. Just reactionary to the situation that develops.

Anything that is done perhaps has a few years at best before it is out of date and should be revised to correct for the unforeseen consequences. The unknown unknowns. There are some known unknowns, but it is the unknown unknowns that will kill us.

Consider the Canadian medical system. When it started, it was aimed at the high cost life saving processes, but since any medical is high cost for the poor, unemployed, working poor, that make up close to 50% of our population, most medical is covered. But not psychologist, and a bunch of other, as seen by the powerful, optional medical care professionals. The government missed a big chance there, the ability to reprogram the population just as they would like. Oh well. Everybody piled on, and no one is just allowed to die without heroic effort to save their lives; even when there is no realistic hope of life or them ever becoming a useful part of society again. This generates large costs and no benefit, other than turning dollars in the medical industry. Oh well, a fix will be required and nobody will like it. Bankrupt government will be the catalyst to that change.

Now our society is based on the most popular of competing technologies combined with ideologies. Some homes now are doing away with TV, others becoming minimalist, others home gardens, home preserving of vegetables, or living like the homesteaders. Back to the land movement is well and thriving, but not loudly as it once was. Radio and news papers have a difficult economic future, but oh well. TV as well, but it has a old population of addicts to die off first, or find new hobbies.

Now the US is about to embark on a re-establishing of home grow industry. Canada, Alberta mostly, is trying to reduce carbon emission from fossil fuel; and at the same time wrongly allow decrease carbon capture in the agriculture sector through carbon sequester depleting to make factory farms more economically productive and employ less people. All the while driving up the cost to the residents, which the government says is good for the economy. Forced spending of any cash reserves we may have. All this makes Alberta far less economically competitive for both industry and as a place to retire and live out the remainder of life.

The long term solution is education; or so we are told. Yet so many of us have spent so much time in getting more education, only to spend years oscillating between underemployment, unemployment, part time, and self employment where our highest technical level was occasionally required. Education is a sold commodity, and there may be no space, no need, no sale for the product. Nerds are not well suited for working construction, but with a excess of engineers, what are the choices. Oh well, that is all over now. You can go through a program and find that you are just not competitive because our ethics keep us above the building code, not a few percent below the code. Or short term designs that will get us beyond the warranted period. Oh well. Industries and professions change at tremendous speeds, and education is always behind the curve. Consider the speed that desktop computers came in to some industries, once they became economic and software was available, some at highway robbery prices, others at give-a-way prices. Oh well, it is all over now for me.

The real problem is over population, over supply of services, rather that an unsatisfied demand continual shortage of people and services. One can function long term, and the other has unemployment. Oh well. Which is easier to live with? If you are among the rich, say top 50%, over population is not a issue, but if you are in the bottom 50% competition will kill you. Of course, the political management is always in the top 50, likely mostly in the top 1% in Canada. Keep in mind, currently, the top 1% of income is just over $100,000/year family income. (2015 data).  So why are we letting the top 1% rule us?