The Managerial State: How Abstract Metrics Destroy Reality скачать в хорошем качестве

The Managerial State: How Abstract Metrics Destroy Reality

Core Argument: The managerial state prioritizes abstract metrics (the map) over tangible reality (the territory), causing systemic decay. Thesis: The managerial class of bureaucrats and specialists is incentivized to improve performance metrics, even as the systems they manage deteriorate. Logic: 1. Definition: The managerial state governs through abstractions (e.g. equity, safety metrics). 2. Anti-Meritocratic Loop: Competence failures are met not with a return to merit, but with more management and social engineering, worsening the problem. Case Studies: Aviation Safety: Compliance architects prioritize demographic targets over technical integrity, degrading competence. Universities: Administrative bloat focused on non-instructional metrics hollows out academic substance. Policing: Anarcho-tyranny emerges as crime statistics are managed via protocols that fail to deter criminals while over-regulating citizens. Central Conflict: Physics (objective reality) vs. Social Engineering (managed abstractions). Summarizes the argument that a managerial state prioritizes abstract metrics of social progress over tangible reality, leading to systemic decay in critical systems. The main claim is that the managerial class, composed of technical specialists and bureaucrats, is primarily motivated to make their performance metrics (the map) look good, even if the underlying reality (the territory) is deteriorating. The logic is established by defining the managerial state as a system run by administrators who control processes through abstractions (metrics like equity or safety). This class's self-interest leads to an anti-meritocratic feedback loop: when competence drops due to non-technical hiring criteria, the managerial response is not to return to merit but to add more management and social engineering to fix the culture, further exacerbating the original problem. This divergence is demonstrated through three concrete examples: aviation safety, where compliance architects prioritize demographic composition over technical integrity, leading to competence breakdowns; universities, where administrative growth (focused on non-instructional metrics like belonging) vastly outpaces instructional staff, hollowing out academic departments; and policing, where anarcho-tyranny describes the state's failure to enforce laws against criminals (anarchy) while aggressively regulating law-abiding citizens (tyranny), driven by the management of crime statistics through protocols like restorative justice. The core conflict is presented as physics (absolute reality) versus social engineering (abstract metrics).