While it’s never clear which posts will capture the attention of a lot of readers, I have a fairly good feel for those that won’t.  This one is neither particularly newsworthy nor sensational.  But since I write for my own amusement, this is one that I will enjoy immensely.

Paul Horwitz at PrawfsBlawg has unearthed the Microcosmographia Academica, by F.M. Cornford, a short satirical pamphlet about the politics and decision-making of Cambridge, which can be found here.  While arrogant academicians think it applies to them, they’re wrong.  It’s for anybody who likes to hide behind committees to assert their brilliance while wondering why no one seems to appreciate them.

You think (do you not?) that you have only to state a reasonable case, and people must listen to reason and act upon at once. It is just this conviction that makes you so unpleasant. There is little hope of dissuading you; but has it occurred to you that nothing is ever done until every one is convinced that it ought to be done, and has been convinced for so long that it is now time to do something else? And are you not aware that conviction has never yet been produced by an appeal to reason, which only makes people uncomfortable?

I like you the better for your illusions; but it cannot be denied that they prevent you from being effective, and if you do not become effective before you cease to want anything to be done — why, what will be the good of you?

Now Cornford wrote this in 1908.  One hundred years later, nothing has changed and nothing has been learned. 
This is either a testament to the human spirit, refusing to give up on the notion that consensus will work if we just keep trying.  Or maybe group decision-making has always suffered from this flaw and our refusal to acknowledge and accept this reflects a monumental failing in human nature.

Since I have long held serious doubts as to the value of consensus, to the point where I believe that consensus almost always gives rise to a generally palatable non-solution to any problem or issue.  If you want to accomplish nothing be achieve popularity, make decisions by committee.

But rarely has anybody made fun of this phenomenon as well as Cornford.  If you agree with me, you will enjoy it.  If you don’t, you may learn from it.  If you’re still reading this post, you are one of the few, the proud, the brave.  I salute you.