Loss of Wisdom by. Dr. Barry Schwartz is a Psychologist who looks at how rules and procedures prevent people from thinking and acting rationally

Barry Schwartz argues that the nature of the universe is intertwined with society, which is controlled with rules and incentives. When things go wrong we often reach for rules in order to figure out what procedures we need to follow. Or we chose to do things based on the incentive given to us. However, Schwartz argues, "We turn increasingly to rules, rules and incentives may make things better in the short run, but they create a download spiral that makes them worse in the long run." This means that it is easier to follow rules as it is a simple fix at the moment, and our actions depend on the incentives given to us. But, in the end rules and incentives have a negative impact on society because it is depriving people of being able to improvise and learn from their improvisations. In addition Schwartz argues, " Moral skill is chipped away by an over- reliance on rules that deprives us of the opportunity to improvise and learn." This means that not all rules are bad. However, if there are too many rules that try to control society, it will prevent us from trying to improvise and learning from all of our attempts to solve problems.

Too many rules can have a bad impact on society. Schwarts gives an example of this with a story of a seven year old son and his father at a baseball game. The son asks for a lemonade and the fathers goes to the concession stand. The fathers buys him a Mike's Hard Lemonade, as it was the only lemonade sold. However, the father did not know that Mike's Hard Lemonade actually contained five percent alcohol. So, he brought it back. The kid was drinking it, and eventually ended up with child services. The father had to go through a difficult process in order to get his son back because of the precaution set by the child services. As child services did not want the child going back to an abusive household. However, it was a simple mistake made by the father, yet he had to go through all of the "rules and procedures" even though it was obvious the father meant no harm. While it is important to follow this does not mean one must always follow the protocols of how things are done. Schwarts argues, "A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule." In the lemonade stories case if there was a wise child service worker they could have identified the situation and let things slide, but they decided to follow protocol. This is what is chipping away at humans' moral skills.

Schwarts argues that " Moral skill and moral will are both significant to the nature of human beings, as it is our practical wisdom, Moral will is the "Will to do right by other people'', while moral skill is the "skill to figure out what doing right means"." An example of this is a janitor who ignored her supervisor and didn't vacuum the visitors lounge because there were some family members who were there all day that happened to be taking a nap. It is this type of decision making and consideration for other people that shows a person who has both moral skill and moral will. It is these types of human interactions "involving kindness, care and empathy" that shows a person's practical wisdom. Schwarts argues that we are losing our practical wisdom, as we keep to all of our rules and all of the incentives. This is preventing us from achieving happiness. However, when we learn moral skill and moral will, humans can achieve happiness.

Schwarts argues that humans can obtain happiness when they properly learn moral skill and moral will.We can do this by remoralizing working, we can attempt this by celebrating moral examples. This means that in order to remoralize work we should celebrate people who have moral skill and moral will. We need to learn these people as they make the world a better place with their morality. In fact, Schwarts argues, "People are inspired by moral heroes." By having moral skill and moral will, we are able to take into consideration how other people feel and thus create better relationships between one another, which can lead to happiness. Once humans have practical wisdom and use it in their everyday lives, they are better able to see others. This improves the quality of customer care, which can raise morality all around. A society with wise people who look out for one another is a happy society.

In conclusion, the universe is intertwined with society. Society is bound by rules and incentives. Humans are quick to make decisions based on incentives and use rules to follow proper procedures because it requires less thought. However, by depending on rules and incentive it is actually chipping away at moral skills. Moral skill and Moral will are both important to the nature of humans because it is our practical wisdom. We must know how and when to do right by other people in order to achieve happiness because it creates a better society where people actually look out for one another.

Please help me answer the following questions outlined in bold.

What are the dangers of Rule and Procedures?

What are the safety rules and Procedures?

Can you recall a situation in your life when "rules and procedures" were imposed but without wisdom, like the lemonade story Schwartz shares in his talk?