Thomas Sowell

The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.

The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.

One of the peculiarities of the American Revolution was that its leaders pinned their hopes on the organization of decision-making read more

One of the peculiarities of the American Revolution was that its leaders pinned their hopes on the organization of decision-making units, the structuring of their incentives, and the counterbalancing of the units against one another, rather than on the more usual (and more exciting) principle of substituting "the good guys" for "the bad guys.".

Many of the products which create a modern standard of living are only the physical incorporations of ideas- not only read more

Many of the products which create a modern standard of living are only the physical incorporations of ideas- not only the ideas of an Edison or a Ford but the ideas of innumerable anonymous people who figure out the design of supermarkets, the location of gasoline stations, and the million mundane things on which our material well-being depends. Societies which have more people carrying out physical acts and fewer people supplying ideas do not have higher standards of living. Quite the contrary.

Organizational progress parallels that in science and technology, permitting ultimate simplicity through intermediate complexity.

Organizational progress parallels that in science and technology, permitting ultimate simplicity through intermediate complexity.

The stricter standards and independent, often conclusive, evidence in the physical sciences cannot be generalized to intellectual activity as a read more

The stricter standards and independent, often conclusive, evidence in the physical sciences cannot be generalized to intellectual activity as a whole, even though the aura of scientific processes and results is often appropriated by other intellectuals.