At what point do we gut the system?

As human beings, we are not always right. Far from it, actually. And even when we are right, evolving times might render many of our “right” ideas either obsolete or “wrong.” What works in one era doesn’t necessarily work in a future one. Yet many times we take the “rightness” of an idea for granted. As a society, we sometimes refuse to even acknowledge that there might be a problem, saying something along the lines of “it’s always worked this way.” That, I think, is a profound strategic error that plagues many aspects of our modern society.

This idea was inspired by a conversation I had recently with the VP of a mobile software distribution firm. We were talking shop about the wireless industry, and the subject of fourth generation networks came up. For those unfamiliar with mobile technology, we’re currently running on third generation networks, and fourth generation ones could be on their way within the next two or three years. But despite the clear advantages of a faster, more efficient network, companies delivering these networks are struggling.

The company in particular we were discussing was Nortel. As you can see by the linked graph, they’ve been on a downtrend. But if we’re gearing up for a new generation of mobile networks, shouldn’t they be on the rise? Intuitively, of course. But the issues run far deeper than the surface.

The problem, as the VP pointed out, is that there are so many issues in carriers’ networks (carriers being Verizon, AT&T, etc.) that run rather deep. So much so that a company like Nortel has little choice but to dig into those deeper problems — which existed before they were on the job — to fix them in order to create a more efficient network.

To me, this provides an excellent analogy to, well, a number of things in our society. What if we, as a country, were wrong somewhere along the way? It’s difficult to suggest such a notion. Surely, for someone to get on a soapbox and say that would lead to many allegations of unpatriotic thoughts. And therein lies the problem.

A lot of this plays into Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. The group in power — that is, the group whose interests are in furthering the bureaucracy itself — clearly don’t want this to happen. And they will likely prevent it from happening. Similarly, many of, say, Verizon’s shareholders might be against gutting the network to find inefficiencies, because that likely means short-term losses.

After reading this over, I’m not quite sure I’m as clear as I want to be. But I want to get this idea out there. Is it possible that a run-through of our current system could reveal vast inefficiencies that, if eliminated, could facilitate a system more beneficial to us all? Not only do I think it’s possible, I’m certain it’s true. It’s just a matter of how to approach the issue, if we can at all.