Wall Theory
Nov. 9th, 2011 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribI think I've mentioned "wall theory" before, but I since I didn't tag it properly, I find it hard to refer back to. So, here, in one spot for future reference, is Wall Theory.
Imagine, if you will, a mythical country. Nice place, with fertile fields and good beer. Except there's a problem. Every so often, the barbarians ride down from the north. Usually they pillage and rape, but sometimes for variety's sake they rape then pillage. At any rate, for the inhabitants of our mythical country, it's a real problem.
So, the inhabitants tax themselves to build a wall and pay for its upkeep. Lo and behold, the barbarians come again. Not being the brightest barbarians in town, they haven't mastered the ladder, and so can't get over the wall. The raids stop.
Time passes. At first, everybody remembers when the raiders came. Then it's just the old folks, and even they are talking about things that happened when they are a child. Finally, the last toothless old man who saw a barbarian dies.
About this time, some sharp young man climbs up onto the wall, doesn't see any barbarians, and says "what good is this wall? There are no barbarians. Let's tear it down."
Most people, tired of having to maintain the wall, say "great!" The wall comes down, to applause and acclaim.
The barbarians don't immediately notice that the wall is down. They like to winter up north, where it's cooler. (I did say they weren't the brightest barbarians.) But eventually they see the wall's down, and, well, you can figure out the rest.
Now, my point is this - any effective regulatory or safety or security system has this vulnerability. If the system works, then whatever the system was supposed to prevent happens rarely or not at all. So, since "we don't have any airplane crashes / bank failures / fraud, we don't need regulations / rules / investigators."
Then the system is turned off, and whatever we were trying to prevent, occurs. And people wonder why.
Imagine, if you will, a mythical country. Nice place, with fertile fields and good beer. Except there's a problem. Every so often, the barbarians ride down from the north. Usually they pillage and rape, but sometimes for variety's sake they rape then pillage. At any rate, for the inhabitants of our mythical country, it's a real problem.
So, the inhabitants tax themselves to build a wall and pay for its upkeep. Lo and behold, the barbarians come again. Not being the brightest barbarians in town, they haven't mastered the ladder, and so can't get over the wall. The raids stop.
Time passes. At first, everybody remembers when the raiders came. Then it's just the old folks, and even they are talking about things that happened when they are a child. Finally, the last toothless old man who saw a barbarian dies.
About this time, some sharp young man climbs up onto the wall, doesn't see any barbarians, and says "what good is this wall? There are no barbarians. Let's tear it down."
Most people, tired of having to maintain the wall, say "great!" The wall comes down, to applause and acclaim.
The barbarians don't immediately notice that the wall is down. They like to winter up north, where it's cooler. (I did say they weren't the brightest barbarians.) But eventually they see the wall's down, and, well, you can figure out the rest.
Now, my point is this - any effective regulatory or safety or security system has this vulnerability. If the system works, then whatever the system was supposed to prevent happens rarely or not at all. So, since "we don't have any airplane crashes / bank failures / fraud, we don't need regulations / rules / investigators."
Then the system is turned off, and whatever we were trying to prevent, occurs. And people wonder why.
