Comment by mgolawala | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mgolawala | Hacker News Reader

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This is so depressing to see. These are the symptoms of a system slowly grinding to a halt under its own weight. Compare the tax code in 1970 (or earlier) vs today (1). Regulations and laws keep getting more and more complex. It keeps getting slower and costlier to get anything done. Then throw in the aging infrastructure, the greater wealth inequality along with significantly decreased social mobility. Un-affordable healthcare and education costs that cripple you before you can even begin to walk. Completely un-affordable housing after that, or a ridiculous commute without decent public transport. No wonder our political system looks as bad as it does.. people are getting increasingly angrier, more polarized, more frustrated, more desperate. There is such inertia to these 'systems' that it takes overwhelming effort and sacrifice to change its course.

These problems don't seem to be getting solved, they seem to be getting worse. How do you realistically reverse something like this? Are there examples of a successful reversal having been made without hitting the dreaded 'reboot' button on society?

We will probably muddle along during our lifetimes, but I fear for my children's generation.

(1) https://taxfoundation.org/how-many-words-are-tax-code/

I sold a piece of software to the state of California once. Among the 100+ page contract was a page where we had to agree that if, during the installation of this web app, a baby was to be abandoned, that we promise that we would abandon said baby at an approved fire station within 3 days of birth.

That was probably 10+ years ago, but it was a real eye opening moment in seeing the mindless wheels of bureaucracy turn. Obviously everyone at every stage of the procurement process knew this page of the contract was insane in the context of installing a simple web app, but no one had the power remove unneeded rules in situations in which they don't apply and no one is going out on an anti-baby-safety ledge. So everyone for the rest of time has to agree on how to properly abandon babies in every contract.

Through my employer, I do work on an open source application. At one point a 3 letter agency contracted us to add some functionality that they needed. Of the developers at the company who work on said application, I happened to be the one picked to work on these features.

Eventually, someone actually read the contract and noticed that it required anyone working on it to have a security clearance. I ended up working on other parts of the same open source application that were being funded by a contract without such a clause, so we could have someone with a clearance charge the contract.

I read an article last year talking about reboot cities/regions. They mentioned places like hong kong, shenzhen, silicon valley, dubai and similar places throughout history where they are given a status that allows for more freedom than surrounding areas usually with less regulation. The thesis was that these areas are essential for making big progress in science or engineering or business , and that they were sort of a double shot in that not only do they have fewer restrictions, but they also attract people who want to accomplish things. These regions never last forever, but really spark kind of a punctuated equilibrium sort of environment for a generation or two.

I’d love to see each state support a city like this. But it can be tricky to balance, especially if it sounds unfair to the rest of the populace. Also, it would require separate governmental systems that could lead to all kinds of problems. As it is the US was set up initially to allow for easier variation among the states to get some of these benefits. But it can be nearly impossible not to end up with similar regulations over time. You even see it within corporations too with similar corporate policies as scar tissue from similar problems they all experience.

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