Slashdot Mirror
Government Efficiency and Network Theory
Science News reports on a study relating (in a loose way) the efficiency of a national government with the size of its cabinet. Researchers in Vienna found that the development level of countries, as a proxy for the efficiency of their governments, is in general lower for countries with more members in the national cabinets. They then went on to model cabinet members as nodes in a network and found support for the observed correlation. There was even specific evidence for the decades-old observation of English historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson that decision-making is severely impaired in committees of more than 20 people. The US is getting close to Parkinson's cutoff, at 17.
The Legion of Doom was case in point of why this isnt true. They NEVER were successful despite the under 20 rule...
I don't know about the Parkinson's Cutoff, but I think at least one former member of the cabinet surpassed the Alzheimer's Threshold.
I hope my karma is high enough to withstand this beating. Hmm, I don't recall.
In that case the US congress uses CSMA/CD.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
"But... I think it is interesting to consider WHY certain posts are created."
:)
Some posts are created to amuse, some to inform, some to troll, and some posts are created to designate a 'goal' area in a sporting competition. I hope that you think this post belongs in the first category.
More seriously, I expect that politicians will always create sufficient jobs (of which cabinet posts are just one type) to give their friends the money/power that they want, without much concern for efficiency or effectiveness. How do you think "Brownie" got his job as head of FEMA?
News just in - the quality of soup can suffer when an excessive number of culinary technicians are involved in the preparation. Film at 11.
At the bottom of the
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
At the bottom of the
Wait.
You mean more politicians ='s LESS efficiency!?
Let's just replace the politicians with scientists. Problem SOLVED.
Wait, no, it's the opposite, when they say "Yes", they mean "No".
No, wait, it's "Yes" when they say "Yes".
Anyway, in soviet Russia, unlike you, we men do perfectly understand women.
SIERRA TANGO FOXTROT UNIFORM
A fairly sage quote I remember from somewhere is:
The intelligence of a committee is equal to the intelligence of the dumbest member of the committee divided by the number of people on it.
I only clicked on the link above to see if the insane-looking URL actually worked (it does), but why on earth do they need to pass in so many blank arguments? Is Scott Adams trying to future-proof the site for several millennia to come?