Chapter 2- Challenge 1: Unintended Consequences
Summary
In this second chapter Woodhouse discusses the many examples and ways that innovation can go wrong. He discusses how poorly prepared we are for even the simplest, most common problems that can be life threatening, like cars running out of gas, or supplying soldiers with the right kind of vehicle to protect them from landmines. He highlights how very afraid we are of things going wrong, and how we support government control to make us feel like we're being protected, but in reality it doesn't do anything. We cannot fight the complex forces of our politics and economy. Right now our innovation process is far from fool-proof, and many things are overlooked or simply not put any effort into.
Analysis & Synthesis
We have learned growing up that when you fall down you get back up, and that falling time and time again is what allows you to get stronger, more aware, so you fall less and less. This pattern is nonexistent in many corporation's head leaders, and we live a life of ignorance is bliss. Despite falling and falling, "many facets of sociotechnical life proceed as if those in authority expect everything to work out fine. Time after time, they appear not to anticipate unanticipated consequences", or appear to not anticipate the severity of such consequences or the effect they'll have down the line. One major example Woodhouse gave was that of PSD. Even now, "U.S. military officials still are not giving soldiers returning from combat sufficient psychological support to head off long-term post traumatic stress disorder -- despite the fact that what once was known as "shell shock" has been recognized for a century and understood for decades.” (21)
This devastation gets even simpler than that. We all know the feeling of zoning out in the car, driving down the highway, thinking of a loved one or getting lost in the song that's playing, and these daily little things “could impair any driver's attention to fuel supply. Might one expect that automotive engineers and manufacturers would anticipate on a statistical basis what some fraction of individual drivers will not foresee?”(22) It's something we all experience and has put people in life threatening situations, dying of heat or freezing or girls getting stuck on a road at night and getting raped or kidnapped or killed. We have failed to account for even the smallest things that are deadly or life threatening and yet we have GPS and radio and phone chargers and cars that call when you get in an accident, but the air bag doesn’t deploy when you get hit from behind! Thousands of drivers die or get severe brain damage from being shot through their windshield when rear-ended. This could easily be fixed and save so many people.
What can we do as citizens? Well, the most common way consumers interact with the market is to “ support 'government intervention' to reduce the severity of economic downturns."(24) However, this can work to the disadvantage of consumers simply by lack of awareness. For example, subsidies. Subsidies on produce and products like milk allow it to be cheaper in the store and keep farmers in their jobs. This gives the false impression to consumers that it is cheap and affordable but actually, the farmers are losing money, and where does that money come from to keep them in business to supply our groceries? Consumers need to be more aware of the market and how it works, and understand how to work with it, even when it is against our nature. Naturally, we welcome the positive consequences, but “most people consider it unwise to passively accept the negative [unintended consequences]” (24). Maybe it is time to accept that "don't fix it if it ain't broke" attitude when it comes to the market.
