News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on California is the only state to hide its spending – nearly $300B a year. Parent comment

Re:California is the only state to hide its spending – nearl... by kelseyfrog on Sunday December 12, 2021 @02:38PM (#29532857)
That's right. I enjoy phrasing social problems in the language of software engineering so I'll do that here. The structures which enable these salaries are a Chesteron's Fence[1]. Shooting from the hip ignores second-order effects[2] and is a thought terminating rhetorical pattern. It's the equivalent of trying random code to fix a bug without doing root-cause analysis. If I tried to do any of these on a development team I'd expect someone to take me aside and kindly explain the consequences. For some reason (which I'd be happy to understand) all of these valuable mental tools are left on the bench when we move out of development and into other realms. They are powerful techniques to understand systems of all types -- we should aspire to use them whenever we can.

1. https://fs.blog/chestertons-fence/

2. https://personalmba.com/second-order-effects/

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:California is the only state to hide its spending – nearl... by rkk3 on Sunday December 12, 2021 @03:26PM (#29533262)
Agreed that it is important to understand things on a systems level, but at what point are we not talking about Chesterton's Fence but The Divine Right of Kings/Mandate of Heaven.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:California is the only state to hide its spending – nearl... by kelseyfrog on Sunday December 12, 2021 @04:10PM (#29533649)
This feels risky, like a reply to a rhetorical question. For me the difference between the two is the acknowledgement of human authorship. Chesterton's Fence assumes human authorship leaving open the possibility for change, while the The Divine Right of Kings/Mandate of Heaven explicitly buries its authorship in an attempt to crystalize it as immutable. Feel free to disagree, but it feels like we're drifting away from the plot.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:California is the only state to hide its spending – nearl... by rkk3 on Sunday December 12, 2021 @04:47PM (#29533976)
My thought is that your claim that setting salaries is a complicated process and we shouldn't rashly come to judgement, while not untrue, is also in effect saying "ours is not to wonder why" and that because high salaries exists therefore they are legitimate a la Divine Right of Kings.
[ Parent | on HN ]