Institutional Short-Sightedness

For some reason, societal decisions are short-sighted and reactive.
Jul 5, 2020Last updated: Jul 20, 2020

Our institutional structures (perhaps unwittingly) seem to condone reactive short-term measures instead of pro-active long-term solutions. Short-term measures correlate with the loudest buzz in popular media. I suspect this observation may be consistent across all aspects of society - healthcare, security, privacy, politics, economics and so on. In decreasing order of preference:

  • Responding to a collapse: Waaow!
    • e.g. COVID-19 response in New York by Gov. Andrew Cuomo received with much fanfare despite delayed measures
  • Preventing a collapse: Good!
    • e.g. COVID-19 response in California by Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken a backseat in pop media despite among the earliest measures in the US (which shows up in the graphs)
  • Preparedness for collapse: Who cares!
    • e.g. Pandemic alarms by Bill Gates. I am fairly certain there were little pockets of academics and experts worried as well.

Here's an article - IT'S TIME TO BUILD by Adreessen Horowitz.

© 2023 Sanyam Kapoor