September 9, 2005

• Unintended Consequences

  It’s a law of the universe:

  Everything
  anyone does has both intended and unintended consequences. The intended
  consequences may or may not happen; the unintended consequences always
  do.

  When I start thinking about that, one of the consequences of that line
  of thought is similar to what happened to the centipede when the
  curious grasshopper asked it how it managed to coordinate all those
  legs at one time.  It started thinking about it and could no
  longer DO it.

  Just consider this:  our consequences have consequences,
  too.  That butterfly that has been used to illustrate one
  principle of chaos theory, the butterfly that flaps its wings on one
  side of the planet and causes a typhoon half a world away, has a
  typhoon as its consequence.  The typhoon has scads and oodles of
  death and destruction as its consequences, and also consequences of a
  different order such as possibly triggering an epiphany of
  enlightenment for someone, or inspiring a great work of art.

  Thinking too much about the consequential chain reaction can lead to a
  case of psychological paralysis in which one is so concerned about the
  possible effects of any action that one becomes afraid to act at
  all.  When I catch myself thinking myself into that state, I just
  remind myself that even inaction has consequences.  That always
  snaps me right out of my paralysis and into paranoia.

  But seriously, it’s something to think about.  Anthropologist Mary
  Catherine Bateson has said that her parents, Gregory Bateson and
  Margaret Mead, had an ongoing argument over whether it’s better to work
  to effect “positive” social change (Mead’s position), or to just butt
  out, not tinker with naturally evolved cultural systems and thereby
  avoid any negative unintended consequences (Bateson’s position). 
  I’ve seen a few things that suggest to me that Bateson had the stronger
  position in that argument, such as the ultimate effects of the white
  men’s efforts to civilize and save the souls of various people of color
  here and there.  And what about dubya shrub’s plan to liberate
  Iraq?  He stirred up a hornet’s nest with that one.

  Whether on any given occasion I choose to leave well enough alone, or
  to do something even if it’s wrong, about the only thing I can be sure
  of is that any expectations I have about the outcome of my action or
  inaction may or may not be disappointed.  To minimize
  disappointments, about the only thing I can do is try to avoid having
  expectations.

  This is not the first time I have thought my way through this idea of
  unintended consequences, expectations and disappointment.  I think
  I enjoy the exercise because the outcome is predictable.  I go
  into it with anxiety about all the unknown eventualities that may or
  may not result from what I do or fail to do.  Then I come around
  to the realization that even if I do the “wrong” thing it could have a
  very “positive” unintended consequence.  At some point in this
  thought process, I am reminded that one of my personal objectives is to
  transcend the right/wrong, positive / negative dualism.  Finally,
  when I realize that by thinking about unintended consequences I’ve
  pushed myself along a little farther toward that goal, it is so
  liberating!
  

  • 4:30 am
  • 4 Comments