culture blurb...higher education as pollutant

blurbat is a big fan of Thomas Sowell. I've read his Conflict of Visions and found it compelling and informative. Today I watched Uncommon Knowledge. Peter Robinson asked "Why...we keep coming back to higher education as a pollutant in the American political system?" Thomas Sowell gives an unconvincing answer. He says that intellectuals are driven by incentives to venture beyond their areas of competence...otherwise they would have never been heard of...if they'd stayed in the area of competence (Chomsky in Linguistics and Ehrlich in Entomology).

blurbat suggests a different answer. The recent Minsky moment in the market melt down should provide some clues. Basically, Minsky theorized that the longer markets remain stable and prosper, the more secure they appear. This security/stability leads to more risk and increasing instability.

Surely Minsky's now almost irrefutable theory rests on human nature being what it is and so will apply to our cultural imperatives as well. The longer society remains stable/secure, the more risk is taken in our society (throwing off cultural norms and values that have sustained us through the centuries).

More and more people shift from a constrained view of human nature (conservative) to an unconstrained view of human nature (liberal). Behavior that is obviously risky in insecure times (neglecting defense, ersion of the work ethic, destruction of societal norms.) is perceived as risk-free by those with an uncontrained view. Ultimately as with the markets, the Minsky moment will arrive for society as a whole. It's just a matter of time.