10 August

Had to do a quick run Into Sydney yesterday, and always find being on the roads gives some of the best insights into human behaviour. Like these newer adjustable speed limits. A great idea, when they monitor traffic across a wide area, they can adjust speed limits to try to get the best flow. What did most drivers do with these yesterday, on the M4? Completely ignored them. In a 100 zone that had been dropped to 60 because of congestion ahead, people flew around me still doing 100, swerving between cars trying to do the right thing. This is like working in governance. Most won’t do the right thing, unless they’re forced to. Everybody is a righteous little ball of certainty that their way is all that matters. We sometimes call China and Russia ‘authoritarian’ cultures. But that’s just because our own culture is a teenage culture, where we want infinite ‘freedom’ to do anything we want. We’re just immature. China and Russia enforce strict rules because they have centuries of experience in what happens if you don’t. Our little adolescent fantasy culture is barely 50 years old. And collapsing. If you don’t believe me, ask me some time what choice notes members of the public leave Council staff, after Council meetings.