The Architecture of Indifference

How German Society Chose Not to See

When we examine the vast machinery of Nazi Germany, we confront a disturbing paradox: how did a civilized society become complicit in unprecedented atrocity without widespread coercion? The answer lies not in some sort of dramatic transformation of ordinary Germans into monsters, but rather in something far more unsettling -- the systematic creation of what Christopher Browning calls a society where "evil that arises out of ordinary thinking and is committed by ordinary people is the norm, not the exception".

The systems by which German society chose non-action against Hitler reveal themselves through six interconnected psychological and sociological processes that, together, transformed millions of ordinary citizens into the embodiment of what Hannah Arendt termed "the banality of evil" -- individuals who committed heinous acts not from thoughtful malice, but from "sheer thoughtlessness".

The Bureaucratic Shield: Moral Neutralization Through Administrative Distance

Zygmunt Bauman's seminal analysis argues that modernity itself created the conditions for moral disengagement. The Holocaust, in this construct, was not an aberration of civilization but its logical outcome. The bureaucratic apparatus provided what Bauman calls "adiaphorization" -- the removal of any moral considerations from administrative processes.

German corporations and institutions exemplified this moral neutralization. Railway workers scheduled transport trains, clerks processed deportation lists, and accountants calculated the economics of murder, all without ever considering the outcomes or human costs of their actions. As Bauman observes, the bureaucratic culture transformed human beings into categories and statistics, making genocide appear as merely another administrative challenge requiring technical solutions. 

The Psychology of Conformity: When Killing Became Easier Than Standing Apart

Christopher Browning's study of Reserve Police Battalion 101 exposes the devastating power of peer pressure in transforming ordinary men into killers. "The battalion had orders to kill Jews, but each individual did not. Yet 80 to 90 percent of the men proceeded to kill, though almost all of them, at least initially, were horrified and disgusted by what they were doing. To break ranks and step out, to adopt overtly nonconformist behavior, was simply beyond most of the men. It was easier for them to shoot".

This conformity mechanism extended beyond military units into civilian society. Mary Fulbrook's concept of "bystander society" explains how "conformity led progressively, through growing complicity in everyday racism, to more active involvement in genocide during World War Two". The social pressure to “appear normal” and to not stand out as different or troublesome gradually eroded moral resistance.

The Disappearance of Moral Agency: Obedience as Psychological Refuge

Stanley Milgram's experiments, conducted explicitly to understand how ordinary people could participate in Holocaust atrocities, revealed that "ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority".

The psychological mechanism Milgram identified, the "agentic state,” describes how individuals surrender moral autonomy to authority figures. This psychological refuge allowed Germans to participate in atrocities while maintaining their self-image as moral people, since they were "just following orders."

The Authoritarian Mind: Submission as Character Structure

Theodor Adorno's research into the authoritarian personality revealed how certain character structures made individuals particularly susceptible to fascist appeals. The authoritarian personality, marked by "blind allegiance to conventional beliefs about right and wrong; respect for submission to acknowledged authority; belief in aggression toward those who do not subscribe to conventional values" together provided the psychological foundation for mass compliance.

Adorno observed that "the misplaced love of the common people for the wrong which is done to them is a greater force than the cunning of the authorities". This insight illuminates how many Germans not only accepted Nazi rule but actively embraced it, finding psychological satisfaction in submission to a strong leader who promised to resolve their anxieties and restore their sense of superiority.

The Gradual Normalization of Evil: How the Unthinkable Became Routine

The transformation of German society occurred gradually, through what Browning describes as the normalization of the abnormal. This process involved the systematic desensitization of the population to violence and the redefinition of moral categories.

Arendt's concept of thoughtlessness explains how this normalization occurred. Eichmann and countless others like him "merely, to put the matter colloquially, never realized what they were doing". The inability to think critically about one's actions, to imagine alternative responses or consider the perspective of victims, allowed the systematic murder of millions to proceed as administrative routine.

Corporate Complicity: The Economics of Moral Evasion

German corporations justified their participation through economic rationalization and the compartmentalization of responsibility. Companies like IG Farben, Krupp, and Siemens employed slave labor, manufactured Zyklon B gas, and built concentration camps while maintaining the fiction that they were merely fulfilling contracts. The corporate structure provided psychological distance from the consequences of their actions, allowing executives to focus on profit margins rather than human suffering.

Bauman's analysis reveals how "segmented, routinized, and depersonalized, the job of the bureaucrat or specialist, whether it involved confiscating property, scheduling trains, drafting legislation, sending telegrams, or compiling lists, could be performed without confronting the reality of mass murder". This fragmentation of the killing process allowed thousands of individuals and institutions to participate while maintaining plausible deniability about their role in genocide.

The Verdict of History: Understanding Complicity

The most chilling take away from these studies is that the conditions that enabled the Holocaust have not disappeared. 

As Christopher R. Browning wrote, "I fear that we live in a world in which war and racism are ubiquitous, in which the powers of government mobilization and legitimization are powerful and increasing, in which a sense of personal responsibility is increasingly attenuated by specialization and bureaucratization, and in which the peer group exerts tremendous pressures on behavior and sets moral norms. In such a world, I fear, modern governments that wish to commit mass murder will seldom fail in their efforts for being unable to induce 'ordinary men' to become their 'willing executioners'".

The German experience reveals that societies choose non-action not through a single dramatic decision, but through countless small compromises, psychological evasions, and moral accommodations. The rationalization of complicity, whether through bureaucratic distance, conformity pressure, obedience to authority, or economic necessity, creates a web of shared responsibility that makes resistance appear futile and participation appear inevitable.

Understanding how German society chose not to act against Hitler illuminates the fragility of moral norms and the ease with which ordinary people can become complicit in extraordinary evil. The lesson is not that Germans were uniquely susceptible to fascism, but that the psychological and social mechanisms they succumbed to remain latent in all modern societies, waiting for the right conditions to activate them once again. 

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Today in Mozilla...

There are so many things I'd like to say about this. There are so many things I have said about this. There is nothing left to say.

If you're at Mozilla and you're okay with this - right on. Good for you.

If you're at Mozilla and you're not okay with this - there are other places to work.

Source: https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2022/mozilla-fdn-990-ty22-public-disclosure.pdf

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We've seen this movie

 I'm sure this will be an unpopular post, but sometimes I cannot help but point out the obvious.

When I listen to folks talk about "the metaverse" I cannot help but think that we've seen this movie before, and we know how it ends.

Sure... depending on your perspective, at present "the metaverse" is largely (depending on who you are) either a concept from a sci-fi book or an opportunity to describe an as-yet imaginary future state. But that isn't what I'm talking about here.

So what am I talking about? In this case I'm talking about online services. I'm talking about AOL. I'm talking about Prodigy and CompuServe and eWorld and Bix and Boston CitiNet and Delphi and The WELL. These were all proprietary online systems with no interoperability which required high and often extraordinary Capex budgets.

For those who are not aware of the history here - these online services should now be seen as a temporary stop gap solution which vanished the moment that "online" became the set of shared protocols now called "The Web." They thrived in the moment in time between when Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn invented TCP in 1974 and when Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1991.

Right now, when you talk to folks who are building or conceiving early "metaverse" stuff it all sounds strikingly familiar to anyone who worked with online products in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I once worked for someone who had been an early executive at both CompuServe and AOL -- and I spent a lot of time working with AOL, eWorld, and The WELL in the early 90s. The language being used by "metaverse" folks - the ideas being designed - the business models being discussed - and the systems being developed all feel exactly like the long-dead online services.

And we all saw how that particular movie ended.

Cheap open-protocol based and interoperable websites replaced expensive proprietary and siloed online services. Innovation exploded. Billions of dollars were made as Web 0.1 became Web 1.0. And millions of AOL install CDs were tossed in landfills. At this point how many of you even remember Prodigy much less eWorld?

I cannot wait to see what people eventually create with the metaverse protocol stack that will emerge in time. I think the integration of spatial computing and a metaverse protocol stack will deliver extraordinary opportunities and will likely change the world in profound ways. 

But when I hear about people creating "their own metaverse" and when I see all of the incredibly expensive proprietary closed systems being built all I can see is the coming metaverse protocol stack and a future of ghost town "metaverses" with virtual tumbleweeds rolling past, unseen by anyone.

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What a year....

 2022.... wow. Quite the year, yeah?

The weird thing is that, in the midst of all the chaos and horror and sadness and hate that seems to have engulfed the world -- I had one of the best years of my life in many ways. To be honest, I kind of feel guilty even saying this. But it was an incredibly momentous year for me, and a very good one as well.

2022 In Retrospect

The year started off with a bang. At the very end of 2021 we bought our new place, and in January we moved to Kauai.

Needless to say, this has worked out well for both of us. We bought a pickup truck. We planted trees and vegetables. We fixed up the house and the greenhouse, and we tricked out the yurt - turning it into a guest hale. We got our Hawai'i drivers licenses and voted in our local elections.

I'm now a resident of Hawai'i - and that feels great. I live somewhere that is part of the United States -- but is not part of America. And that feels right to me.

We met new people, and started making friends. We got to know our neighbors and have started to become part of the hui. 

This helped lessen the sadness of missing our friends from the mainland -- and as expected some of y'all have come to visit. Which is great! In no small part because guests bring us one of the only things we miss here... fresh handmade corn tortillas. We saw Kavin, and Mon. Catherine came and visited. We saw Lisa and we saw Connie and George. We saw Terry and Kelly, and we saw Erik, Angela, and Aurora. We saw Sam and Anne, and even a few folks from work who came through Kauai! We love sharing our new home with our friends.

I had to go to the mainland for work (speaking at an investor conference in Monterey), and it was shocking how challenging the visit was. You know the frog in the slow boiling pot of water story? It was like I was one of those frogs who had been plucked out before I was boiled and placed in a lovely terrarium all of my own... and now I was being (temporarily) dropped back into the soup. My ability to deal with the negativity and hatred and selfishness and lack of any sense of connection to other humans much less the world around you seems to have been stripped away. This left me with a strong desire to not leave Hawai'i for a bit!

Summer came and it was hot. Tourists were everywhere - with their mainland entitlement and self-centeredness. It was a lot -- but it's still Kauai. It's still amazing. We grew incredible cherry tomatoes. We harvested tons of lychee. We spent time with friends and at the ocean.

Work had been going really well for me. Mach49 has continued to grow and continued to do very well. I was having a great time in my job - and love the company. Around this time Linda, the CEO and co-founder, approached me and asked if I was interested in becoming the Chief Strategy Officer. We talked through the role and I, happily, agreed to the promotion.

We took a little "Staycation" here on Kauai, which was fantastic and honestly is something we'll probably do every year. People spend huge amounts of money to vacation here. Why would we go somewhere else?

Valerie's 50th birthday party was incredible. We did a "best of Kauai" themed party with Valerie's favorite foods from all over the island. We had a big party tent, a bartender, a sound system, and a ton of great friends. It was, IMHO, the best birthday party either of us have had.

In early September I went back to the mainland again, this time for the Mach49 Summit. Unfortunately, I ended up contracting COVID at the event (despite all my safety precautions). I'd made it all the way to mid 2022 without getting sick... but my luck ran out. I ended up pretty sick, but Paxlovid sorted things out and I didn't end up with any lingering symptoms. Sadly, I also infected Valerie but her symptoms were at least mild.

Once recovered, we decided to take advantage of our "temporary but robust immunity" and went to Honolulu for almost a week. We took advantage of the local Kamaaina rates and stayed right on Waikiki with great views. We ate amazing meals at great restaurants (Mud Hen Water, Piggy Smalls, and Fete all stand out). We got spa treatments. We shopped and we stared at the ocean. It was great. The food scene in Honolulu is very good now, and I feel like it gives me everything I need that I don't have on Kauai (other than, of course, my far-away friends).

As we moved into the fall, and the second of our two seasons here (The Dry Season, The Wet Season), we continued to plant fruit trees and expand our vegetable growing. We grow a huge percentage of the fruits and produce we eat, and what we don't eat we either gift to others or have a friend sell at the farmers markets. It's an amazing feeling.

Valerie took a consulting gig working with me at Mach49 late in the year - which has been lovely. We've always really enjoyed working together - and have a great work partnership. 

As the year wound down we decided that this new life, this new place, this new lifestyle and reality we live within doesn't seem to really fit with some of the mainland structures and values and moments. After a lot of discussion, we decided that instead of Thanksgiving (with its embedded colonialism and racism and oppression of native peoples) we would celebrate Pigsiving the weekend after Thanksgiving. We roasted a whole pig, set up some tents, and had a pot luck with the ohana, our friends, and the hui. It was absolutely perfect. As a result, we also reconsidered Christmas. Neither of us have been fans of much of what Christmas has become -- and it feels completely divorced from our reality. So, based on a conversation with my friend Alex Knight, we decided we would instead start celebrating Winter Solstice. This has turned out to be great - and we're going to move to a more "growing season" based celebration schedule in the future.

I've cooked a lot of great food this year.

I've grown a lot of great ingredients this year.

I'm made connections and friends.

My job is great - and I am in a new, exciting, and senior role.

The relationship I have with Valerie is the rock that everything is built on and continues to be the thing that brings sense to my life.

My health continues to improve, in all ways. At my age -- that's a miracle.

My only hopes for 2023 are:

1. that it's as good if not better than 2022
2. that both Valerie and my health continues to improve
3. that our friends from the mainland keep visiting us
4. most of all, that it is better than 2022 for everyone else... especially for those for whom 2022 was a truly awful year (and I know that is a lot of people out there).

Aloha to all!

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Why I Wear a Mask

I wear a mask because I cannot guarantee that I'm not an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19, and I don't want to infect others.

I wear a mask because I support healthcare workers and will do anything, no matter how small it might be, that could make things easier for them.

I wear a mask because we need to normalize wearing masks in public.

I wear a mask because I believe in facts and science - no matter how inconvenient or challenging to one's identity those facts might be.

I wear a mask because I believe that the collective good is more important than individuals' desires.

I wear a mask because my clients who are ER docs and nurses, and acute care providers, have begged me to do so.

I wear a mask because it's the right thing to do.

Wear a mask.
Please.

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Plan B

Every company right now has an evolving plan for what to do once the economy "re-opens." Most of the plans I've seen assume some sort of return to normalcy. Others assume a "New Normal" emerges this year.

What nobody seems to be considering is what they will do if things don't return to Normal this year (new or otherwise). What nobody seems to be considering is that there is a very plausible and highly likely scenario where we don't get any form of stable "Normal" for three years.

If I were in Corporate Strategy leadership at a company right now, I'd have a Plan B in the works. I'd have a strategy for the scenario where we see incredible instability and continued outbreaks along with periodic social isolating and the resulting economic disruption for three years.

Because if our hopes and wishes are insufficient, and if the magical thinking of our government turns out to be less than what we really need, then it's highly likely that we will not see a widespread vaccine for 2.5 years. And if we're honest with ourselves right now, we're unlikely to ever get to the needed testing volume without some serious breakthrough. And without a vaccine or widespread testing, there is no stabilization.

So in other words.... Your current strategy and plan likely relies upon hopes, wishes, magical thinking and an unexpected breakthrough. I've met people like that... they have a system for beating the Lottery. Is that how you want to run your company?

I'm not saying you shouldn't plan for a 2020 New Normal. Of course you should. Dreams do come true. But if you're not also building out a 3-year plan that assumes no short-term reset or stability - you're betting your business on your super clever Lottery-beating scheme.

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the culture of tech is toxic (part 2380745)

A must read.

"Being an office manager in Silicon Valley is a difficult and thankless job that’s lowered my self worth more than anything I can think of. But the larger takeaway is that the tech industry’s culture of providing abundant perks has cultivated a level of employee entitlement that I find shocking."

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