Re: The Five Stages of Collapse

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Esther Dyson <edyson () edventure com>
Date: December 27, 2008 12:41:22 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Vadim Antonov <avg () kotovnik com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   The Five Stages of Collapse

vadim -

you are so right!  Without feedback loops, the country didn't know how  
to adapt.  Instead of being a living thing, it was like a machine  
built in the 30s and 40s that gradually rusted into decline.

When I first visited in 1989, I remember being amazed at how  
unresponsive everything was.  Waiters didn't respond to diners,   
hotels didn't respond to visitors.... There was no way for customers  
to signify their desires because there was no pricing system to serve  
as an information vector.   Innovations that spread in the US were  
still-born....  It was only in the mid-90s that you finally saw such  
things as separate lines at passport control and other places, where  
people previously would simply form crowds and those who shoved the  
most got served first.

Esther



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