Technocrats against technocracy; experts "discover" the importance of non-experts. Two posts by Henry Farrell:
The Rise of the Technocrats. The title itself is absurd.
Nudge and Democracy, linking to a piece by HF and Cosma Shalizi in New Scientist: 'Nudge' Policies are Another Name for Coercion
Two days earlier, HF posted a defense of utopian literature, the technocrat's light entertainment of choice.
I won't begin to run down the list of authoritarian or anti-democratic arguments published at CT, but I will note the most recent, from Nov. 1st: ‘We have faith in our citizens’ – why? I'll admit that I think Niamh, their most recent addition, is a bit behind the curve.
I wish I could say that a scientist's understanding of democracy could be enough, but it's not. The knowledge of feminism, the feminism of men, is not enough. Democracy and curiosity, like pedantry and bigotry, begin in experience and practice not it theory; but the first links above are another example of leftward drift, or a drift towards the social, that as I've said is beginning to separate proud neoliberals from those who never wanted to admit that's what they were.
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"Another nudge", from July.
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