I recently watched Tim Pool’s coverage of the complete FAA shut down. But, before he really got into the subject, he, essentially, buried the lead by discussing something much more important: positive vs. negative solution strategies.
Did he know that he was discussing the subject? Did he intend to discuss it per se? I doubt it; he was discussing the clandestine appropriation of the term “stakeholder” at the time and simply stated what he thought—as he always does.
But Mr. Pool really hit on something important, intent or no intent.
He used the example of how, around the turn of the century in New York City, there were bills and policies introduced to curtail the use of horses in the city due to the environmental hazards of too much manure on the city streets.
It was indeed a problem and I can certainly see the necessity for a solution. But what do you do about it? After all, the preponderance of horse-traffic in the city was commercial. How do you limit horse manure without limiting horses and, thus, disabling the distribution of goods and services throughout the city?
But, as is always the case in State circles, their solution was reactionary: tax, ban, and punish. This, as I pointed out in the second episode of The Rational Apprentice Podcast, is a negative strategy which has never provided a positive outcome or a permanent solution. And, indeed, the policies strangled businesses and hindered commerce.
Until…
Free market capitalism (not to be confused with what we have in the U.S.) marketed a new innovation alongside the old: the horseless carriage (better known as the car). And suddenly, because the car was faster, more efficient, and cheaper and easier to maintain, the manure problem was gone.
Amazingly, no one’s property needed to be stolen in order for this solution to work. It was both a rational and moral solution to the problem—as all true solutions are. As I stated in the podcast episode:
“…for every problem that has been solved in the physical sciences, throughout history, a positive strategy has always been employed. There were a number of years there when the physical sciences tried to use the negative strategy—you know what we call those years?
The dark ages… and for good reason. Nothing got solved during that period.
But when it comes to our societal problems we have only ever employed a negative—a reactionary strategy. Someone does X, and we react with Y (some new law, some new punishment, some new regulation, some new war), every single time—and each and every problem still exists.”
So, well done Mr. Pool, you hit the nail on the head.
It’s been a very busy winter so far at The Rational Apprentice.
First, I would like to announce that The Rational Apprentice is now available on YouTube. It’s something that I thought long and hard about and I hope that I will not regret the decision to add my content to that platform.
In the process of adding YouTube, I have consolidated the first three episodes of the podcast to a single video episode. I will also be uploading more frequently on to YouTube until I can get all of the platforms in sync. Once that happens, the episode schedule will return to normal.
If you have a YouTube account, please subscribe to the new channel. Of course we are still very much on Rumble, Odysee, BitChute, and , of course, Anchor, Spotify, and Apple podcasts.
Second, The Rational Apprentice website has also been completely redesigned and is now live. As you’ve probably seen over the past few weeks, I have also been converting many of my legacy articles to Substack posts. They, along with much more, will all be available to my paid subscribers.
There’s a lot more in the works that I will reveal in the near future. I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Oh, and episode 28 is available now!