I've been reading "Seeing like a state" by James C. Scott. It's a fascinating book about how the state tries to simplify and quantify things so that it can better exert its power and reshape society into something that's more amenable to (central) governance.
Sometimes resulting in catastrophe (think "millions dead").
Some of the worse such catastrophe's were in communist states in the 20th century.
What's fascinating is how...
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What is fascinating is how Lenin and other communist thinkers were convinced that they were "scientific" and in today's parlance were "following the science".
Today we know from ample historical data that socialist central planning doesn't work and a dictatorship of the proletariat doesn't result in the state eventually dissolving away.
But 100 years ago, at least according to these people, it was "scientific" to claim these things.
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but but that was not real communism comrade, this time it will work, we just need to keep trying.
