Vincent Tijms’s Reviews > The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy > Status Update
Vincent Tijms
is on page 149 of 261
The second essay in this collection is the worst I've read by Graeber. The question is interesting enough (Why did so much promised technology never materialize?) and Graeber's answer looks to an often ignored aspect (scientific enquiry is determined by social structures and processes). However, the piece isn't grounded with convincing examples and the link with bureaucratic control needed more exploration.
— Jul 17, 2015 03:09AM
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Vincent’s Previous Updates
Vincent Tijms
is finished
In the third essay, Graeber attempts to explain the appeal of bureaucracy and he follows the road less traveled to do so. It's not just the ideal of impersonal meritocracy, it's that we like the predictability that rules offer and can fear the chaotic nature of play. This way, Graeber manages to connect the anarchist theme of homo ludens with his draft of a critique on bureaucracy.
— Jul 21, 2015 07:27AM
Vincent Tijms
is on page 105 of 261
The first essay links bureaucracy and violence. The argument is complex --bureaucracy manages asymmetries in empathy, that are themselves the consequence of power relations, which in turn are justified by violence -- but clear enough. I especially enjoyed Graeber's attempt to connect his analysis to the insurrectionary nature of imagination.
— Jul 16, 2015 08:30AM
