Tuesday, December 1, 2009

David Cameron is IMO right when he argues that ....

IMO David Cameron was very right when he spoke against the mentality/philosophy/mantra that "behind every accident there is someone who is personally culpable, someone who must pay".

He was referring to over the top UK (and EU) health and safety regulations.

IMO this applies to other areas of life and public policy as well.

Philosophically speaking, the worldview that behind every event (be it accident, crime, success, failure, or anything) there is a single and identifiable causal factor (someone, etc) who is (personally or organisationally) culpable, someone who must thus "pay" (via jail time or fines etc) has IMO roots that are partly religious and partly philosophical/existential. This worldview has admittedly made public prosecutors in the US try to "simplify" court cases in order to satisfy the juries "need" for a clear culprit AND motive to exist.

Of course on the other side of the spectrum lies the philosophy that everything was meant to be.

IMO, and based on my multi-variable problem formulation and solution background (Operations Research, Decision Sciences, etc), the reality lies somewhere in the middle - somewhere in between: for everything that happens there is a wide number of causal factors at play and there is a vast difference between causality and correlation. Enormous.

The same issue arises in Financial Analysis, eg, as in the technical vs. fundamental analysis issues.

It also stems, IMO, from our adversity to risk and fear of death.

Am I exaggerating?

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