Unintended Consequences — By John Reed

Unintended Consequences
Right up there with Boyle’s Law and all the other scientific rules are some social patterns that seem equally valid. Murphy’s Law says anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And the Law of Unintended Consequences is similar to Newton’s third law about opposite reactions.
Let’s look at a couple of examples from well-intended efforts at social engineering. Starting about 70 years ago, the women’s liberation movement combined with the development of the birth control pill and the legalization of abortion decoupled women from the expectation and rigors of bearing and raising children. Profound societal changes followed including huge numbers of women entering the job market and a massive drop in the birth rate.
All very welcome news. What nobody considered is the effect this would have on men. While no one sees the advancement of women as anything but a good thing, not so with the drop of men in higher education, the workforce, even fatherhood itself. The massive rise in crime resulting from fatherless children becoming family-less adults is only one trade-off.
Another example is social security. Developed during the Great Depression as a last-ditch helping hand for the elderly, shorter life spans meant the average pensioner only got a few years of checks. These days, I might see thirty years or more of monthly income. Granted, few if any could survive on just that income, but the point is still valid.
Finally there’s socialism. A more palatable name for communism. Developed first as a response to the 19th century class warfare and income disparity situation in Europe, it had pretty much run its course by the 1990’s. The problem here is that communism doesn’t take into account human nature. We are by nature ambitious and want to get ahead of our neighbor…until everyone gets everything for free. The then there’s no longer any motivation, and the system collapses from the inside.
Finally, the introduction of computers for every school child sounds like a good idea until creativity, math, and reading scores go into the toilet. Some schools are now ”unplugging” with major improvements again.
So it seems every good idea has the potential to cause issues that negate their effectiveness. Should we stop trying to innovate? No! But maybe a little reflection on possible good AND bad outcomes would help.