Let's Prehend
A Manual of Human Ecology and Culture Design

ASCENSION OF INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT, AIM

There seems to be some disagreement over the role of the individuals and the institutions in the management of our society, MOOS.

Most folks blame the greedy bankers and capitalists, or the "military industrial complex", or some iconic evil like AlQaida or Donald Rumsfeld. On the contrary, consider that these are not really people functioning as humans, but rather more like institutional robots. But these Managerial Elites, MEs, are heavy into their game. They would take these exalted roles without devotion and loyalty to the institutions. They are obliged to follow the Corporate Ethic, and save the Human Ethic for their personal lives. Whether they Internalize the Corporate Ethic, ICE it, or endure the cognitive dissonance is a subject for serious psycho-sociology.

Naturally, we humans tend to personalize everything, not just people and institutions, but also animals, stars, gods, and the great processes of our lives so very beyond our comprehension. But it's not their fault. Personalizing reality is little help in describing what's going on and what might be done about it, if anything.

President Obama, for example, like the Presidents before him, have little to say about foreign policy, especially wars. JFK took office from the Eisenhower Administration just before the liberation of Cuba from Commy Castro was about to begin. But at the last minute this naive and arrogant young man, who thought he was Commander in Chief, decided to exercise his power and prohibited the bombing and other U. S. support of the Bay of Pigs invasion. With U. S. support `we' surely would have succeeded, but without it, everyone was embarrassed. This is said to be the main reason JFK was assassinated, in addition to other relatives and operations that the family thought they might influence. Clearly the president is the leader of the nation and his, or her, job is to be the spokesperson for the Managers Of Our Society, MOOS.

In a recent TV business round table on the 2008 financial crisis, on guru related the plea of a big banker CEO, "We can't regulate ourselves! You [the `government'] must regulate us!" But worse than that, our CEOs not only can't go against their institutions, they are obliged to elaborately lobby the legislature to refrain from regulation or restraint of trade.

Our' Congress depends upon contributions and elaborate other participations from the business interests they effect. Their `constituencies' are not the voters, who are so easily swayed by the most brilliant spin doctors the world has ever seen, but by the Managerial Institutions that they effect. Worse than that, the corporations are obliged by law to enhance the stockholders' profits, as well as their own complex compensations. If they try to impose more human values into this complex process, they are simply replaced by some one more willing and skilled. Or they may be relegated to the Public Relations Department, where human values are handled. As for the Military Industrial Complex, the MICs, I hesitate to discuss.

In these fast changing times, the Managerial Institutions, MIs, have a life of their own. They grow and change and evolve like any other complex system. They have a Life Of their Own, LOO. Let's consider the burgeoning technical evolution and imagine some effects it might have on the Mis. The information revolution makes everything more perfectly clear than it ever has been. Thus, the organic nature of Mis elaborates at an increasing rate. This makes it ever more difficult and unlikely that human ethics will impinge on corporate ethics, and more difficult to get away with it, should any human try to intervene.

Another example of institutional evolution is the role of the Lobbies. They began as agents of the Corporation and Military Elites, CMEs, but have evolved to organize among themselves, with their own LOO. Not only do they influence the elaborate jostling for public funds, which is the task of the legislature, but they are in a position to extort funds from the CMEs that hire them. The ease and elaboration of communications make such organization increasingly feasible, and necessary.

One interesting complication of the concentration of wealth and power is the recurrence of feudalistic "noblesse oblige" by the likes of Bill Gates, George Soros, and others. Just as Andrew Carnegie gave library to the poor in days of yore, so these aristocrats strive to alleviates some of the agonies that our degenerate system promulgates.

The future lies ahead!

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