Category: Personal Reflections and Diary

RUTHLESS

Ok. So yes. I have this reputation. And yes. I’ve earned it. But the truth is, it’s not one that you want. It’s like being a mercenary. Everybody wants them when they need them. But you’re uncomfortable if they’re living next door.

When I married Allora, I made a pledge to stop being ruthless. And, working with my friend Jim, who tempers my rather ruthless tendencies. (Although he is just as ruthless operationally as I am strategically. ) But events and pressures can make dead old habits come back to life.

But ruthlessness has a natural side effect: loyalty. And I’m loyal.

Why? Well, the world is chaotic – or more accurately “kaleidic”. And, because the world is kaleidic, and we are possessed of too little information at all times. And because of this paucity of information, we we all need a means of making decisions. Especially when it is almost impossible to make a decision between multiple possible paths that lead to equally beneficial outcomes.

Now, there are a whole lot of options available to you. Norms, rules, habits, beliefs, myths, superstitions. And most of these means of choosing, are constructed around different ideas of a ‘common good’. Under the theory that you will not be blamed, materially or morally, for making decisions that are made according to those rules.

Unfortunately, I am only too aware of the fact that the only common good we can ever really know is the respect for property. I certainly don’t agree with the american cultural concept of the ‘common good’. Secondly, I don’t exactly have the emotional portfolio of the average person, so I can’t rely on all sorts of sentiments and habits.

One sentiment that I both understand and feel strongly is loyalty. This is partly because relationships are a high transaction cost for me – once I find a person good enough to work with I prefer to invest heavily in that person.

But Loyalty is an emotionally loaded word. In practice it means bearing costs, even if only in the form of opportunity costs, on behalf of others as an investment in a shared objective. We like to think of it emotionally. But as I state elsewhere, all emotions are reactions to changes in state of our property – if property is understood in its broadest sense. And loyalty is the act of making the best use of a large investment in an individual.

So faced with a Kaleidic universe, and in need of a means of decision making, I make my decisions based upon loyalty. Which is to say on the property I understand and can calculate.

And, as a rational creature, and a propertarian, it’s actually the only choice available to me. 🙂