Hayek, The Road to Serfdom - 13th session

September 21, 2020 (Mon), 13th session

Chapter 4. The “Inevitability” of Planning

“The Claim of Technical Possibilities That Cannot Be Realized Under Competition”

“The Narrow View of Experts and the Case for Planning”

The Road to Serfdom reading discussion, 13th online meeting: Mori, Rosha, Damje, Kangyoung, Kongdubu

A conversation came up among Mori, Damje, and Kangyoung, who had gathered first, about a George Soros-related video that has been circulating lately. Mori expressed anger that claims have recently been spreading among conservatives that Jews and globalism are part of a left-wing scheme. Mori argued that it is wrong to define everyone as an enemy out of excessive fear, and voiced concern about the conspiracy theories currently circulating among conservatives.

Mori argued that excessive fear and conspiracy theories about Jews and Jewish capital are a tactic often used by collectivist forces to consolidate their own camp.

Because conspiracy theories stem from feelings of fear, I am not sure whether any amount of logical argument can really turn the mood around.

It was only after wasting about 30 minutes on pointless talk that we finally started reading the book. It feels as though the starting time for the reading keeps getting later and later. If this continues, tardiness at meetings may become even more widespread.

It may be better, going forward, to begin with the reading right away.

“The Claim of Technical Possibilities That Cannot Be Realized Under Competition”

This section is about whether limiting the diversity of competition might amplify the effects of technology.

The book reaches the following conclusion:

“Even if the price we have to pay for preserving diversity and freedom of choice in the short run is sometimes high, in the long run even material progress itself will depend on the preservation of this very diversity. For we can never predict in advance which better new thing may develop out of the various forms in which goods or services are offered.”

We also talked about China’s situation, where it is suffering from a state-led all-in strategy. The issue of standards for mobile phone charging ports also came up.

The principle is that we should not recklessly take the risk of putting all resources into one basket. We are already living in an age in which mandatory national standards can actually hinder technological development and social efficiency.

The book also says, “Of course, one cannot assert that if we preserve freedom at the cost of foregoing a little material convenience now, we will always be rewarded materially as well. But it is precisely this need to leave room for free growth whose direction we cannot know in advance that constitutes the very case for freedom.”

“The Narrow View of Experts and the Case for Planning”

Why do experts so easily fall into planning? It is practicing private physicians on the ground who oppose the government’s socialist healthcare policies, but those who fight most forcefully on the other side and push them forward are also medical professionals who oversee medical administration. And in fact, most medical professionals themselves are also effectively inclined toward planning insofar as they demand that the government provide more desirable planning and fiscal input.

“In a planned society, many things all appear achievable when considered separately one at a time, and this is why enthusiasts for planning arise.”

“A considerable number of experts fall into the illusion that in a planned society they would be able to secure greater attention for the ends they value most. This illusion is much more general than the term ‘expert’ at first suggests. For all of us are, to some degree, experts, in that we all live within our own prejudices and interests.”

Planning is an uneasy voyage that may run aground at any time.

We are witnessing how nuclear power generation, which was fostered and developed in the past through state-led projects, lost public trust as soon as it was branded the work of a so-called “nuclear mafia,” and then, under a single five-year administration, an undertaking built through long years of investment was torn down.

We should not simply drive on Germany’s Autobahn and admire it. It may in fact be powerful evidence of social resources being unnecessarily consumed by planning. Experts are often the ones who fail to see what is invisible.

All of us are planners in our own way. But the plans I make are mine to bear.

A planned society is one in which the plans I make are imposed on someone else who does not want them. A planned society is one that commandeers that person’s resources and destroys other opportunity costs.

Kongdubu said that although they had lived diligently according to elaborate plans, they were not really sure whether that had actually been a good thing.

That is right. Even on a personal level, rigid planning can, in a way, cause us to miss things that are more important because of our own narrow perspective.

Kangyoung spoke about having heard somewhere of the experience of being a “yes man”—an experiment in saying “yes” to everything and carrying it out as it comes. There were issues of stamina, but it was also said to be an experience that dramatically broadened one’s view of life.

That is right. Both socially and personally, we must not forget the inherent limits of planning—the fact that it eliminates possibilities.

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Original title: 하이에크 <노예의 길>-13차

Author: Jayujuui Ipmun Dokseo Toron Moim

Date: 2020-09-28

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=reading01&pn=8&idx=23140