|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Often a concept can generate a hundred new insights and ideas if explored properly. For the sake of this lesson, I'll call this exploration, "mining a concept." To see how the process unfolds, we'll work with just one idea; the observation that laws almost always have unintended consequences.
Forbes magazine recently noted that shoemaker Nike has 13,000 items in their catalog, including thousands of very similar models of shoes. Why? Part of the reason is a little-known legal decision in 1911, in which the supreme court decided manufacturers couldn't set the prices retailers charged for their goods, because this would be "price fixing."
It isn't price fixing, of course, because all other manufacturers could undercut their price if it was too high. The point of telling retailers what to charge was to keep them from price wars that hurt them all. A uniform retail price would mean that they all could compete on other things, like service and location, but they would all have a reasonable profit margin.
Nonetheless, in the name of protecting the public from high shoe prices, the decision was made. Of course, laws and court decisions like these rarely have the desired effect, and almost always have unintended consequences. In this case, it certainly has not held down the price of shoes. As mentioned, this would have been accomplished by normal competition among manufacturers in any case.
What the law did was make it a smart business strategy for a company like Nike to have hundreds of different types of shoes. Now you can buy Nike's "Air Persistence" shoes, but the next store over won't have them, instead carrying the "Air Code" model. Another area store will have"Air Monarchs." By having enough different models, the stores each get their own, and don't have to compete directly against each other. This makes it possible to keep the pricing higher, and is a direct consequence of the law.
Notice how very inefficient this is. Factories are retooled, or new materials are purchased in smaller, more expensive lots to be used for each of the hundreds of varieties, with few fundamental differences in the shoes themselves. In other words, this makes shoes more expensive for the buying public without adding meaningful choices - not what the court intended with its ruling in 1911. Laws and rulings that interfere with the market usually do make matters worse (another concept worth exploring).
Laws have unintended (and often negative) consequences. Once you see a simple concept like this in true stories like the one above, you start to see it in action all over. For example, in 2003 Canada passed a law intended to criminalize "hate literature." Because it outlaws public expression against homosexual behavior, it may have made the Bible illegal - something lawmakers probably didn't intend to do.
Another example is the law (now repealed) in Michigan which made possession of more than a certain amount of cocaine punishable by life in prison with no chance of parole. With no death penalty in the state, a dealer couldn't get one more day of prison time if he killed several police officers who tried to arrest him for a large amount of the drug, but he might escape by doing so. Almost certainly lawmakers did not intend to make the environment more deadly for the police, but that is what happened.
Now, as you play with this concept and watch for it in real life, you can gain a lot of insight. For example, you see that sometimes what is unintended by lawmakers and the public is actually the intent of others who quietly promote a law. This may be the case with the outlawing or regulating of some natural medical treatments just before a new drug with similar applications is introduced - sales of the latter naturally are assured when options are legally limited for the intended purpose of "protecting the public" (look up L-Tryptophan to see a case like this).
Another good example of this is when laws are passed to regulate an industry. The stated intention may be public protection, but often, behind the scenes there are industry advocates pushing for the laws. Why? Because the unintended consequences of higher prices and less choice is exactly what they intend - it's better for their profits. Licensing of those who cut hair is one such case. It makes the industry more difficult to enter and so keeps prices higher for those already in business. So we pay more as consumers, but do we really get "protected" from crazy hair cutters? Not likely.
Beyond the legal area, we can look at a similar phenomenon in the unintended consequences of moral law. In my article "Moral Corruption - By Morality," I argue that the unrealistic burdens placed on people by their overly demanding moral codes may make them less compassionate, even though the intent of these moral rules is the opposite. There are certainly other examples out there of moral laws which encourage behavior that was never intended.
It is easier to see how focusing on one concept like this can give you new and more radical insight into what is going on in the world. But what about using it for generating new ideas? The potential for that will depend on the concept you are working with, but there a number of ways to approach this goal.
In this case, we could look for ideas on how to create laws which actually do what they are supposed to do. In criminal applications, for example, we might look at how to use punishment to deter crime, but in ways that don't encourage more violence or other unintended consequences. Perhaps we could have a law allowing a criminal to turn himself in prior to coming in contact with police, for a reduced sentence.
In the area of morality, maybe we could focus on creating moral "laws" in a way which clearly links them to a person's self interest: "Thou shalt not steal" becomes "Do not create for yourself the unhappy, grasping and anxious mind of a criminal by taking what does not belong to you."
Choose one of the following concepts and explore it, looking for real-life examples. Make a note of any new insights this process gives you, and write down any new ideas as well.
1. More intelligence makes a person more able to "prove" lies and false theories.
2. People often buy things for reasons having nothing to do with the products primary function.
3. Those who worship rules often forget their purpose.
Until next time,
Steve
www.RadicalNewThoughts.com
|
- The 11 Mental Patterns That Naturally Attract The Life You
Desire |