Points missed

Sometimes comments are what really counts... My dear anonymous contributor made me to use this comment as a starting point of another contribution. The original comments is written in italic.

Yet again there seems like a point is missed. A friend of mine always says "assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups"... Yes, there are many jokes on that. Especially related to economists. But of course: there is nothing wrong with assumptions. The problems always occurs when the assumption is uncoscious or well hidden. And that may be the reason why people uncovering assumptions are so interesting.

I am not saying that working in the private sector is not adding value to the society or is less efficient than the public. My point is aiming for a more general state of mind, how we look upon our surroundings and our being inside of that. I like abstract discussion. However sometimes it is also important to fully disclose the privat motivation or current circumstances which made us to open the respective topic. And I will try to do that later on.

Bells from Slovakia

I still have no conclusion but my question is more conretely (since I guess you want me to rephrase it): Is egoism really the answer to creating a good, valuable and if you want efficient society? Good question. My answer: to be honest, I dont know.

Not only because I would need a clear definition of egoism to be able to fairly answer the question. The other reason is that I dont know the other potential answers. This should not be regarded as opportunism ("if I dont have any other option I choose the one I have") but rather as an expression of real care. I am keen on contributing to the society. And it is really important to me. If I dont see other option I would probably vote for the proposed one even though I am not sure of that.

And I always become quite hesitating when being asked for support of any kind of collectivism - it is just a result of our historical experience which made for many people anything that could be marked as linked to collectivism highly suspicious. What is even worse is that the experience (and/or its consequences) are hampering us from objective reasoning on collectivism or egoism. Scandinavian experience is quite different I guess.

Second thing is that I do not call the will to work in the public sector, which to a great deal of people is not satisfying and enriching, egeoism/individualism. But ALWAYS putting your own will and needs in front of others is egoism but this is getting to far from the issue.

I dont think I understood the first sentence. So let me deal with the second one: to be honest I am convinced that most of things most people do is closely related to their satisfaction. Even doing something that can be valued as difficult, hard etc. can be satisfying. I dont think that there are many examples of deeds which would be done just on behalf of other without any sign of satisfaction. I even believe that such things happen only under really exceptional circumstances (e.g. you see somebody laying on a street and provide him with first aid - just automatically, without reasoning). This belief does not come from looking for arguments for egoism or so. And it even - at least in my eyes - does not decrease the value of work done by people in charity and the like.

I just wanted to point out that if you are really disappointed in how things you basically have these two options; 1. Complain about it and be angry and miserable, 2. Do something about it even if it will cost you a bit (maybe lower income???)

True. But let me add something: There is option 2a and 2b. 2a - do it immediately without thorough analysis. 2b - do it wisely. Example: my former co-worker become a deputy minister of the ministry of foreign affairs with 8-years experience in consulting including servic public sector clients including ministry of foreign affairs. This way he did not only enjoyed all the benefits of private sector but also is now in a position when he can really contribute to the ministry. Second example: if I am right Warren Buffet does not spend much on charity. He said that he would give most of his enormous wealth to charity after his death - this way the amount given to charity will the biggest possible.

Museum of Oravian village

So, if all the well educated people prefer to go for option one while they might have resources (physical, intellectual, charsimatical etc) to go for number 2 and make the foreign policy as Petr Robesjek would like them, then are they really the smart ones?
Or are they just shortsighted egoists not willing to work for change despite having the resources for it?
Here is maybe the crucial point. I dont think they would really have the resources: usually the public sector in the Czech republic (it could be different for instance in Nordic countries) is not ready for really exploiting the value of "young well educated". Usually if young people join public sector they work on stuff related to EU - which is usually managed by departments of mainly young people. So they are not hindered by all other rather older officers (this is sort of generalization but let's neglect it for the time being) who are afraid of their positions. One practical example: a friend of friend of mine joined one of Czech ministries (after his contract had been signed). It took 3 weeks to provide him with his computer and it took another 3 weeks to be told what he was supposed to do. When I joined my company I was given the computer in the morning of the first day and I jumped directly into a project. My contract was signed two weeks later... You may say that one should try to change the routines of the ministry - but my practical experience is that unless you are a deputy minister it doesnt made any sense.
So to conclude: I do believe that in general you are rather right. But the reality does not always look like "general".
I know why you prefer to work in the public sector and in your case I also think I understand why but I wont post it here in public....
Could you share it with me privately?
This is putting it quite harshly and I know it is not that simple in reality. What I want to say is that I prefer action to bitterness and counting the value of everyone and not only the assumed smart ones....

Everything counts...
I do what I can do. So that is why I was (and stil am) so much involved with ESN: I did something what I enjoyed and where I really could see some results. And one of the reasons I really enjoyed that was that the impact of what I did had quite broad scope - I did it on behalf of others.

PS Why then??? (they say curiousity killed the cat but luckily Im a bitch...)
You may guess. My personality is not that complex :-).

Hodnoty / Values

"The world as you can see from Rip" (mythical mountain/hill in Bohemia which is said to be the hill from which the mythical Czech grandfather oversaw the land and chose it as our homeland) is a book I read during my vaccation.

It is written by Petr Robejsek a political scientists with very sharp and clear opinions especially on foreign policy. Unfortunately it is all in Czech, however at least couple of thoughts or quotes from his book are worth sharing.
"Modern foreign policy must meet the highest requirements regarding its speed, adaptability and originality" (p.173). May seem obvious but making this dream come true is not that simple. For instance one of the obstacles which, in my opinion, especially post-communistic countries are facing is the fact that for such qualities of your foreign policy you need welel educated and smart people. But they usually prefer much better paid positions in the private sector.

However, the performance of foreign trade (which highly influences the output of the private sector) is quite affected by the foreign economic policy. Sort of vicious circle.

Talking about this foreign policy related issues always reminds me of the set of values of Estonian Ministry of Foreign affairs. And the interesting emotion I experienced when reading it for the first time - "God, this is the way the things should be".

Park v Ceskem Krumlove / Park in Cesky Krumlov

O dovolene jsem takrka jednim dechem prelouskal knizku Petra Robejska Svet videny z Ripu. Kdyz uz pro nic jineho, jsou v ni pekne citatky, alespon na ukazku:

• "V roce 1939 prohlasil admiral C.Woodward: 'Potopit lod pomoci bomby? To je proste nemozne.' Par mesicu na to se Americane u Pearl Harboru presvedcili o krute mylce cackeho generala." (s.49)
• "Pred lety visel na tabuli v budove varsavske univerzit nasledujici inzerat: 'Vymenim malo pouzivanou suverenitu za lepsi zemepisnou polohu.' " (s.53)
• "Nemame zadne vecne spojence a zadne trvale nepratele. Nase zajmy jsou vecne a je nasi povinnosti temto zajmum slouzit. Britsky ministr zahranici Henry Palmerstone (1784-1866)"

Ale vazneji. Libi se mi jeho slova o tom, ze "Moderni zahranicni politika musi splnovat nejvyssi pozadavky ohledne rychlosti, prizpusobovosti a originality" (s. 173). Pri tom si vzdy vzpomenu na "aha" moment, ktery jsem zazil, kdyz jsem se dostal na stranky estonskeho ministerstva zahranici. Vice bych to nerozvadel, protoze by mi zase stoupnul tlak a tak.
A tak aspon jedna tucne vytistena poznamka od Robejska sameho: "S jinymi staty spolupracujeme proto, ze mame (docasne) stejne zajmy, nikoliv proto, ze jsme cleny stejneho spolku. Spolek je pouze jeden ze zpusobu spoluprace, nikoliv jeji nutny predpoklad."

Krasa zkazy / Beauty of doom

Beauty and majesty can be found in various places. Especially when you know that no one was hurt. Reminder of lost fights of ancient giants...

Krasu a majestatnost lze nalezt leckde. Zvlaste kdyz nikdo nezemrel. Pripominka hrdinnych boju davnych obru...

Death's voice / Hlas smrti

I started using last.fm again recently. It is quite interesting how broad is my taste: from death metal (I especially like the vocal of Death's singer) to a style which name I don't know. Nevertheless Smog (or Bill Callahan) is something worth listening.
And a little funny musical disaster - No Limits in a slightly different way.
P.S. Well, it is not that bad with me :-). Here is a little proof: great music and movie. Leonard Cohen - In My Secret Life.


V posledni dobe jsem se vratil k poslouchani hudby na last.fm. Hle, muj hudebni vkus v cele sve siri: od death metalu (hlavne hlas, da-li se to tak nazvat, zpevaka skupiny Death je hodne zajimavy) ke stylu, jehoz jmeno mi je utajeno. Kazdopadne zpevak Smog (Bill Callahan) je rozhodne hoden aspon kratkeho poslechnuti.
A na zaver jedno lehce bizarni video - aneb No Limits trosku jinak.
P.S. Abyste snad neupadli v podezreni, ze to se mnou jde zu grunt, tak neco relativne normalinho s vytecnym klipem: Leonard Cohen - In My Secret Life.

Tisicihlava san

Kdysi davno jsem ucinil nekolik zkusenosti s Cizineckou policii na Olsanske. Zaver byl zhruba takovy, ze vedle Ceskych drah takovou instituci aby u nas pohledal. Jinak receno: kdyz u nas cizince nechceme (coz si lze dovodit ze zpusobu fungovani zmineneho), proste jim zakazme vstup smahem, a usetrime jim spoustu nervu a nam platy posuku z CP.
Zkratka: jestli jste se dlouho nestydeli, zajdete si na Olsanskou (nebo kam se to ted chodi) a budete se cervenat az na mistech, o kterych zatim nevite, ze je mate.

Tuhle erupci stareho vzteku ve mne vyvolal pekny clanecek popisujici souzeni jine obeti. Na ukazku vybiram:

"Je kupodivu že ani tak jednoduchou větu jako „Miss XXX XXXX does not have any criminal records and does not endangering peace and order in XXX" si cizinecká policie nepřeloží. K žádosti musí být přiloženy i takové ptákoviny jako nájemní smlouva mezi přítelkyní a mými rodiči jakožto vlastníky nemovitosti, výpis z katastru nemovitostí atd. "

"Pár rad na závěr:
1. Komunikujte s policii pouze písemně, jinak zapřou nos mezi očima.
(...)
4. Mějte za dveřmi připravenou násadu od krumpáče nebo psa bojového plemene, kdyby je náhodou v 7 večer napadlo přijít se bez soudního povolení podívat kde přítelkyně bydlí a dožadovali se vstupu do domu se slovy „Buď nás tam pustíte nebo budete mít problémy“.
5. Když Vám policista při vyřizování víza bude tvrdit „že je to složité“ a cpát Vám číslo na „agenturu“ která Vám za „poplatek“ vízum vyřídí, vězte že se dovoláte občanovi Ukrajiny, Bulharska nebo Albánie, bude vás to stát několik tisíc a v podstatě se jedná o úplatek, protože se kluci dobře znají a kredity si rozdělí. "

A jedna rada primo z komentaru (evidentne od praktika):
"Rada k nezaplaceni, ale dam ji zadarmo:Az pujdete ne CP neco vyrizovat, vezmete si tak 2 az 3 poradova cisla. Ono je to tak trochu loterie. Rozumny urednik vec vyridi, nerozumny zamitne nebo si navymysli blbosti a lejster az na pudu. Kdyz zamitne, jdete s dalsim poradovym cislem k nekomu jinemu. Dve tretiny jsou celkem vstricni, kdyz vidi, ze z veci nemuze byt pruser, tretina jsou paka neschopna ucinit jakekoliv vlastni rozhodnuti. Pravdepodobnost, ze narazite trikrat na blbce, je vcelku zanedbatelna. Jeste se to nestalo. V nejhorsim pujdete jeste jednou...."

Mame tohle zapotreb?

Butcher's hands / Ruce reznikovy

Firing people (or "downsizing") is also a part of consultant's work. Why are we doing this (and after all enjoying it)? The feeling of power is among the reasons. Hands covered with blood: some calculation is done and the workforce smaller by 20 %. A quick job. I am saying to myself that I save money of taxpayers (or shareholders, depends on the client). And that I am not taking someone's work, but that someone had a job he or she didn't have the right to have.

So this is what I am saying to myself. I am just afraid that I will change my opinion (or a feeling) one day and then it really won't be a nice day. One thing is what you are saying to yourself the other thing is what is happening to other people.
For the time being I am sort of cynically enjoying it. I am just wondering how would I feel if one of those fired would like to beat me up. As a mental exercise it is not bad after all - thinking of such hypothethical events.


I propousteni lidi je prace konzultantova. Proc tuhle praci delame? I pro ten pocit moci. Ruce od krve: trocha pocitani nad tabulkami a dvacet procent lidi je pryc. Raz dva. Rikam si, ze zefektivnuji organizace a setrim penize danovych poplatniku (nebo akcionaru, zalezi na klientovi). A ze to neni tak, ze bych snad nekomu bral praci, na kterou ma narok, ale ze dosud mel praci, na kterou narok nemel.

Tak takhle si to rikam. Jen se desim, abych jednoho krasneho dne svuj nazor (ci spise pocit) nezmenil, protoze z toho by mi pak dobre nebylo. Jedna vec je, co si rikam, druha, co se nekomu deje a jak se citi.
Prozatim z toho vseho nemam spatne pocity, naopak mam takov cynicky pocit z dobre vykonane prace. Jen me zajima, jaky bych mel pocit, kdyby si nekdo z tech propustenych nekde na me pockal a rozbil mi usta. Jako mentalni cviceni nejsou uvahy o takovych potencialnich udalostech vubec spatne.

Hodne stesti!

Hodne stesti, Martine!

Dojit

Tak tohle ("nemusi iba stale tahat kravske struky") se proste musi videt. Kdo jste sledoval Eso nekdy v prvni pulce devadesatych let, tak si vzpomenete. Unbelievable. :-).

Lidska dustojnost / Human Dignity

You may have noticed that under "REFLECTIONS" you can find links to various blogs. The true is that I read just some of them (well, mostly Idees Fixes unfortunately just in Czech). So the others were put there just to have a link there to a potentially interesting site.

So today I finally had time to read the Mart Laar's blog - he is a former Estonian prime minister. To encourage you to have a look on his contributions let me quote from his blog:

"I have never understood why the free World is still so much following the ideas of Karl Marx, which means that there are surprisingly lot of remnants of Marxism in the Western realities. One of them is progressive taxation. In their “Communist Manifesto”, first published in 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels demanded “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax”. For the founders of Marxism progressive taxation was so important that in their demands it was listed as second in importance only after the “abolition of property in land”. When the destructive nature of the first demands is largely recognized, then the nest main pillar of Marxist thinking is used in most Western countries. In long run the results of this can be very destructive too. Taking from human being one of the most valuable abilities: to make its own decisions, use its talents, to be creative and innovative, their human dignity is strongly endangered."



Asi jste si vsimli, ze pod "REFLEXTIONS" jsou umisteny odkazy na rozlicne blogy. Faktem je, ze ctu jen nektere (najme Idees Fixes). Ostatni jsou tam jen proto, ze jsem se nekde dostal k odkazu a proste ho dal na blog. A ted jsem se dostal k blogu Marta Laara, byvaleho estonskeho premiera. Jako drobne navnadeni prikladam preklad casti jeho prispevku.

"Nikdy jsem nechapal, proc svobodny svet stale tolik nasleduje ideje Karla Marxe, tj. proc je v zapadnim svete tolik pozustatku marxismu. Jednim z nich je progresivni zdaneni. Ve svem 'Komunistickem manifestu', ktery byl publikovan v roce 1848, Karel Marx a Bedrich Engels pozadovali 'silne progresivni dan z prijmu'. Pro zakladatele marxismu bylo progresivni zdaneni natolik dulezite, ze ho mezi svymi pozadavky umistili na druhem miste hned za 'zrusenim pozemkoveho vlastnictvi'. Zatimco skodlivost prvniho pozadavku je siroce uznavana, druhy pozadavek je hojne vyuzivan ve vetsine zapadnich zemi. V dlouhodobem casovem meritku mohou byt dusledky tohoto opatreni stejne nicive. Brat lidske bytosti jednu z nejdulezitejsich vlastnosti - delat vlastni rozhodnuti, vyuzivat sveho nadani, byt kreativni a inovativni - znamena, ze lidska dustojnost je ohrozena."

19. století v nás

Narazil jsem na pekny rozhovor o vyznamu 19.stoleti.

Co z toho? Nejspis ona struktura zivota, ktera je tak hluboko... Kultura v nejsirsim slova smyslu. Spolecny jmenovatel (koho?, v jake mire?) ?A jen velmi malo prilezitosti videt tyhle hlubsi veci jakoby zvenku. Priopit se, vycestovat, filosovat?

Drobny citat:
"Kdybych to měl říct jednou větou nebo jedním sloganem (za co muze 19.stoleti), tak řeknu, že za vznik občanské společnosti. A pod tím sloganem občanská společnost se skrývá obrovská škála procesů, kterými jsme si museli projít, někdy dobrovolně, někdy násilně, aby z nás bylo to, co je dnes. To znamená, že uznáváme v politické sféře jakousi zastupitelskou demokracii, že uznáváme, že práce je součást našeho života. Že uznáváme, že rodina (i přes to komunistické období, kdy údajně měla být zrušena i rodina) je opravdu základní kámen této společnosti, že uznáváme stát. A také je naše existence založena na faktech, která teď jsou běžná a předtím běžná nebyla. To bych demonstroval na tom, že existuje třeba jednotný čas, protože 19. století zavedlo jednotný čas, a my jsme se tady na fakultě mohli sejít přesně v tu hodinu, kterou jste řekl. Myslím, že nejzajímavější je to, že se práce stala základní náplní lidského života, že rozdíl mezi přírodními kmeny, mnohdy ještě ve světě existujícími, a námi spočívá v tom, že třeba nepracujeme jen tehdy, když máme hlad, ale práce je systematická, je nám náplní života, také nás uspokojuje, někoho až moc, až se stane workoholikem. Takže denní a životní rytmus, rozdělení privátní sféry, rozdělení pracovní sféry, to všechno přineslo 19. století. To znamená, že v šest hodin jdete do továrny, tam máte píchačky, ty vám dovolí odejít až po osmi odpracovaných hodinách a pak se věnujete něčemu jinému. To všechno souvisí s 19. stoletím."

Pravda

Pavel Kosatik ve svem textu v HN za Janem Benešem pouzil peknou formulaci: "Jenže o tom, kdo má nebo nemá pravdu, se nehlasuje; i když se to nezdá pravděpodobné, může být "mimo" drtivá většina lidí. Kdo vyhrál, se vždycky ukáže až dodatečně."

Kdo je nejdulezitejsi? / Who is the most important?

All criteria are relative...
However... (Central) Europen point of view can make the impression that here is the middle of the world. According to Sean Maloney Intel's vicepresident for Sales and Marketing the most important person is 20 years old Asian woman.
"Question: How did you come to the minimal size of the screen to be 5 inches? Did you use some tests?
Answer: "Yes. I personally even think that minimum is 7 inches. But that portable device must always fit in a pocket. I am always saying that a 20 years old Asian woman must be comfortable with it - that is the biggest target group. You must ask: will a Chinese woman round 20 carry this this phone or player with her?"
So who do you think is the most important?

Kazde kriterium je relativni...
Kazdopadne (stredo)evropsky pohled svadi k domnence, ze prave tady je stred sveta. Viceprezident Intelu pro marketing a prodej to vidi trosku jinak.
V rozhovoru v Hospodarskych novinach rika:
"Otazka: Jak jste přišel na tu minimální velikost obrazovky pět palců? Nějakými testy?
Odpoved: Ano. Osobně si dokonce myslím, že minimum je sedm palců. Ovšem musíte dodržet podmínku, že se to přenosné zařízení musí vejít do kapsy. Vždy říkám, že to zařízení musí vyhovovat dvacetileté Asiatce - to je největší cílová skupina. Musíte se ptát: bude ten telefon nebo přehrávač nosit čínská žena kolem dvacítky s sebou?"
Tak co, kdo je nejdulezitejsi?