BuSab

In a set of stories written a few decades ago, sf writer Frank Herbert (of Dune fame) described a government that included a "Bureau of Sabotage" --- an official agency designed to throw sand into the otherwise inhumanly-efficient clockworks of the State. Cute concept --- somewhat like the rôle of the tribunes in the Roman Empire (see ^zhurnal 26 Dec 1999, TheVeto), or the US Presidential pardon, or aspects of the judicial systems of many nations. Escape hatches --- artificial mechanisms to disrupt a pattern which otherwise might run amok. Illogical and vital in the real world of imperfect knowledge.

• Friday, March 09, 2001 at 20:46:11 (EST) = Datetag20010309

TopicJustice - TopicSociety

(correlates: InBalance, FictionalHurdles, TheVeto, ...)