Four preconditions for civilisation

A propos my previous posting It pays to keep a little craziness, here are the four intellectual processes underlying human achievement, as listed on the back cover of the book Pioneering Research: A Risk Worth Taking by Donald W Braben that I discussed a few months ago here.

1. Ask questions not on the agenda
2. Explore ideas wherever they lead
3. Pursue goals because they are important
4. Create options not yet perceived

Here are the sorts of questions (numbered as above) that "bureaucracy" asks which strangle these processes:

1. Does your proposal directly address the issues outlined in the invitation for tender?
2. What is the breakdown of your proposed project into work packages and deliverables?
3. What's the business case for your proposed line of research?
4. Does your proposal directly address the issues outlined in the invitation for tender?

I am regularly asked all of these questions, and, yes, they do have the predicted strangling effect. All of this is to satisfy those people who like to reduce everything to a bunch of spreadsheet cells, so that they can control things. It seems that the admin-geeks (see here for more details) now rule the world.

What could be done to avoid these control freaks? Hmm ... tricky problem.