Below is the continuation of an (imaginary) conversation with Tim Urban, this time on blind spots. Urban is the author of, What’s Ours Problem: A Self–Help Book for Society, ∇ .
Co–Management
You have a blind spot that…
… I have many….
… that may be, but you have one in particular that I know something about
That sounds like fundamentalism to me, but let’s hear it.
In any case, your blind spot is around ‘jobs’ and ‘top companies.’ You take them as a given, something you mention in passing, as the grass on the side of the road. ‘It is beautiful, ain’t it. It’s always been there. How can such a beautiful thing be part of the problem?.
So, the grass is my blind spot?
The ‘jobs’ and ‘top companies’ are.
How so?
Because a big part of the problems that you point out and are so passionate about spring out of what we call Fiat businesses, the source of ‘jobs’ and ‘top companies.’
So, you don’t like capitalism. Go on.
I love capitalism, what I think is working against us is ownership. But more about that later…
Getting back to the ‘jobs’ and ‘top companies’ thing, you describe in your book the case where professor Nancy Hopkins walked out of the talk that Larry Summers was giving as an Economist, not as Harvard president
Right.
That example rearranged things in my head… actually, it lifted the fog in my head and I thank you for that.
I am glad!
As I was reading it, I realized what speaking out of love was all about.
I am still glad, but I don’t get the connection.
You make the distinction that Summers was invited to speak as an economist, not as Harvard president, but I think you know that it’s very difficult to separate the two. I think you also know that it is even more difficult for Summers to not let his hypotheses as an Economist influence his decisions as Harvard president, even assuming that he is exceptionally good at doing so. If Hopkins was thinking along those line, the perceived collusion probably was what was making Hopkins’ head explode. She could have behaved differently. She should have voiced her concern and Summers and the rest of attendants might have learned something.
I tend to do what Hopkins did. I don’t say anything and walk out on talks that sound absurd to me. They leave out a piece that is obvious to me and after a but I am out of there. Thanks to the example in the book I am committed to not be silent anymore and state whatever is obvious to me out of love for the speaker and the audience. I know that there’d be consequences of doing that.
OK, I stopped smiling and I think I am ready for the blind spot.
You don’t seem to see Fiat businesses; I think they are invisible to you. And you don’t realize what a big and fundamental part of the problem they are. You illustrate the problem so well, but you don’t see Fiat businesses as a source of it.
Thank you. I think.
And you have not even asked me what a Fiat businesses is!
I think I know what that is. I had not thought of Fiat as a label, but I do recognize putting labels on things that have been invisible. Besides, you are going to tell me anyway.
Yes. I want to make sure we are starting from the same place. Fiat means roughly ‘because I say so’. So, what you call Social Justice Fundamentalists I might call Fiat Social Justice. Good, you are smiling again.
It even is a nice smile and not a ‘how stupid do you believe me to be?’ smile.
In any case, we realized that the way businesses are organized is by Fiat. The owners control what goes on through their Fiat hierarchy. And the owners get that power over everything through their capital. The alternative RADICAL companies that we we are proposing, and actively making happen, are based on contributions. Wait… that was a jump…
That’s OK. Labels are useful for illuminating distictions and calling some companies Fiat created the space for other companies, in this case Radical companies. Nice.
Thank you. I will continue with my slow version of this story to make sure we don't off to different assumptions. For example, we always say Fiat business and Radical companies.
OK. Got it. The full labels are: Fiat business and Radical companies. Fiat business have been invisible, and that is correct. And, I assume that Radical companies don't exist but would be complementary to the arguments I put forward in What’s Our Problem.
Bingo! The most dangerous thing about Fiat businesses is that they have been invisible. They also teach us that capital means unquestionable power. Capital gives you absolute power over everything that goes on inside a business. And that why we call businesses dictatorships.
And because you are from Cuba, you know about dictatorships.
I know a lot more now, thanks to you. Your book as provided me with actionable knowledge. Silence lets Fundamentalism gain strength. This is how dictatorships start, where they spring from. We keep silent to get along and in the blink of an eye, we have to keep silent to stay unhurt and alive.
Yes!
And Fiat businesses are silence-training camps. And Fiat schools and homes, that learned from Fiat businesses. We pride ourselves on being good citizens of democracies by supporting dictatorships known as Fiat businesses.
And they have been so successful…
… financially successful!…
Yes, but more that that. They have also been successful in paying off a portion of society who then becomes an essential part of their Fiat Immune system. The middle class is essential to the immune system of the the dictatorship golem. Shit.
Shit, indeed. I could not have put that better.
Except, you just did.
ENDNOTES
-
Tim Urban. What’s Our Problem: A Self-Help Book for Societies. February 2023. <https://a.co/bwKUp22>
Matt Perez. What’s Our Problem: A Self-Help Book for Societies. February 2023. <https://radicalcompanies.com/2023/02/22.what’s-our-problem>
Matt Perez. Urban Radical. February 2023. <https://radicalcompanies.com/2023/02/23/urban-radical>
