More Regulation, Global Regulation

The news just now had poor old Gordon Brown wriggling on a hook about the economic collapse around the world. Gordon rightly said you need to diagnose the problem before you come up with the solution, then ignored his own advice by talking about robust regulation, strongest possible regulation, global regulation. He's right and also wrong. It all depends what you mean by regulation.

The idea of Popper's Nightmare is that this steady process of centralisation has been going on for years, the slow undermining of local practice and knowledge leads to a position where local knowledge and the structures that support it is destroyed. Technology plays a part in this, just as it plays a part in the re-animation. But, if you were the bloke in Central HQ facing an imminent election, and not terribly popular, you might not want to think about long term solutions to the crisis screaming in your face. BUT, a short term knee jerk increase in centralised power weilding (often what politicians mean by Robust Regulation, Strong Regulation, and Global Regulation) is going to make things worse. It keeps us locked into the nightmare.

Still, as this is likely to be the strategy, the rest of us need to think up some tactics. Humour, and humanity, theatre and maybe music, poetry perhaps. Antidotes to the boredom and lifelessness inflicted by the increasing administering of rules and their policing.

We should wish each other luck.