Re: [Pen-l] Dying of Consumption

[ravi <ravi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Nov 28, 2008, at 11:22 PM, Jim Devine wrote:
> ravi wrote:
> > IMHO, I think there is a small but significant difference between  
> > capitalism
> > and meritocracy (including a naiveté about meritocracy) -- to be  
> > clear: I am
> > introducing "meritocracy" into this equation (not putting it in  
> > JimD or
> > raghu's mouths). I am doing so because I think that is what Obama is
> > enamoured with (as far as his m.o goes) and that is what lies  
> > behind his
> > surprising (for some of his followers) resort to old, and  
> > *credentialed*
> > Clintonites.
>
> what meritocracy is depends on what is meant by "merit." Who defines
> it? I'll let you guess: what system defines Henry Kissinger as
> "meritorious"?

[if I am reading your implication right, I don't disagree with it at  
all... thus the "naiveté" part in my post]

The system of measurements that we all encounter and live by, with all  
of its splendid circularity. Larry Summers is brilliant because he can  
out-argue anyone else in the room, or grok some wicked math, or was a  
president at Harvard, etc, etc. I was just re-reading The Organisation  
Man, and though the author is diametrically opposite in his root cause  
analysis (which hinges on the absurd idea that corporate profit/ 
efficiency maximisation = social/communal good), his observations are  
I think fairly dead on... he points out for instance the rise of a  
secular system which finds "technique more vital than content".

	--ravi

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