In the article The Logic of Failure it described a multitude of failed experiments that were implemented in place to improve the quality of life for people in that community. In the introduction, it gave an example where state officials wanted to place speed bumps to reduce pollution in the air as well as reduce noise levels. So they as mentioned above-implemented speed humps and reduced the speed limit by twenty miles per hour in an attempt to reduce emissions and decrease the noise. What ended up happening is pollution increased, there was more noise, and shopping in that area became so hectic that it discouraged many shoppers from attending those stores again. What ended up happening is everyone migrated to suburban stores which caused a whole other influx of problems. They give a multitude of examples similar to this one both of which occurred in real life as well as in a computer simulation. They discovered that through these examples the best way in which to solve these problems is more thinking and less acting. Another example that stands out to me was a town in Southern Africa that decided to drill more wells to increase their water supply and a series of events transpired because of this. The increase in water supply meant their soil grew better grass which led to larger herds which led to overgrazing which led to their land becoming barren and depleting the cattle population. In addition, all of the remaining groundwater had been exhausted. Showing how implementing new ideas has a variety of effects both positive as well as negative.
This reading brought me back to one of our first readings this semester “Doing Good Better”. In this article, officials thought it would benefit many rural African towns if they took out their regular water pumps and implemented Play Pumps instead. The idea was for these pumps to be similar to a merry go round so children could play on the pumps and get water. What ended up happening was the pumps needed constant force in order to turn which was exhausting to the children thus leading adults to turn the pump. This was much less efficient and gave them much less water than they were originally getting. The reason for this as The Logic of Failure describes is 1. “Acted without prior analysis of the situation, 2. failed to anticipate side effects and long-term repercussions, 3. assumed that the absence of immediately obvious negative effects meant that correct measures had been taken, 4. let overinvolvement in “projects” blind them to emerging needs and changes in the situation, 5. were prone to cynical reactions.” Whereas when careful analysis and research is conducted such as the deworming project a huge positive impact is made.
Reading through the Logic of Failure reminded me a lot of Doing Good Better also. Although the owner of the Playpumps had good intentions, he did not do enough research of how much his product would actually benefit the people he was trying to help. This caused more damage than benefits which could have been avoided if there was more analysis done.
I had not thought of that connection from Do Good Better and it is a very good example of a solution that clearly complicated the problem. Even then, people did not know that it was a poor solution until a good deal of time after it was implemented. In a time like this, where intervention seems crucial, I think it will be even harder to know whether the solution made the situation worse or better. It is already so bad, I do not know if we will ever be able to tell how successful or harmful these solutions have been.