Systems over people

Perhaps, there probably isn't anything more 'human' than a cop accepting a bribe.
His salary is laughable, his social life is non-existent, his health too is rapidly on the decline. What ever little extra he can earn to put food on the table and perhaps buy his wife a nice sari in his eyes is absolutely fine. He is human.

There is no such thing as the perfect politician or a perfect professor or a perfect employee even. These are all human beings responding to things they see as incentives or beneficial to them

Politicians are not corrupt because they are bad people. They are just rational actors working towards preserving their power, pleasing the people who will fund their campaign, making sure they win the next election cycle. They are human beings acting in their own personal interest.

You will often hear people say things like 'This city has a lot of corruption, low employment, high illiteracy and it's all because we have wrong person(s) in power and that only if we could find the right person and put them in power all will magically change.'
No. There is no thing such as 'the right person'.
it's the system that needs to change. The solution is to build a system where the incentives are such that who ever is in-charge will do the right thing or (at least) not be able to do damage.
The need of the hour is tt build a framework that takes into account these incentives and fundamental drives of human nature instead of turning a blind eye and pretending everything will be fine.

Thanks to Raghu for the conversation that sparked this thought and to Ankita for proof reading the text.
./====
./ Creating systems that work ; project planning ; human behavior

If you enjoyed what you just read, do consider subscribing.
I publish 2 minutes reads weekdays every morning at 9am.
Subscribe by email to find these right in your inbox
Cheers! :)
Allwyn.