RE: Feeding People (2)

[Jean-Marie Gogue <jmegogue@wanadoo.fr>]

My post "Feeding People (2)" aimed at giving you a way to improve your
knowledge about an important point concerning the future world, nothing
else. It's why I'm grateful to Mr. Mowery for his answer, which reveals
some weaks points in my argumentation. I doubt however that his post will
increase our knowledge very much.

The Deming philosophy starts with universal principles for acquiring
knowledge. Shewhart clearly stated them when he wrote that knowledge is
made of 3 components: (1) Prediction; (2) Evidence on which prediction is
based; (3) The degree of belief in prediction.

Evidence is a broad concept. Survey reports are evidence as well as things
that you have seen and heard by yourselves. But I tend to have a higher
degree of belief when evidence is my own observations, rather than reading
reports and articles. When I read articles, especially in US magazines, and
compare their statements with my own observations, I think that they often
propagate preconceived ideas.

Here are some statements made by Mr. Mowery that I suspect to be
preconceived ideas.

"People in poverty do not suffer from a lack of self-esteem and dignity.
They suffer from a lack of resources."

"Evaluating the effects of a decision on the rest of the economy is the
systemic approach at its best.  Restricting one's view only to the farmers
is suboptimization."

"I disagree that simply doubling the price of food for at least 2-3
generations in hope that "significant" results can occur is reasonable.  It
is a steep price for the rest of society, and prevents economic growth for
many many years."

"Trade barriers in lieu of improvement or diversification are harmful to
the rest of society, and will never result in a solution to the problem. "

Moreover, if the last statement would be true, why don't the US
administration apply the rule? For example does the American people hear of
the fantastic amount of US trade barriers on some European products?

The general atmosphere of this post makes me think of the Red Beads
Experiment, when Dr. Deming said: "Six red beads! Tony could do it!
Everybody can do it! You must improve."

Significant sample out of this post:

"Farmers in the mountains where I live could not compete well with corn and
wheat producers in the Midwest.  Many farms are gone now.  But some farmers
simply changed.  Some changed to dairy products.  Some planted orchards.
Some dug ponds and raised fish.  The area even has a handful of wineries
now.  A program that helped the New Dehli farmer to convert to other crops
over five years while gradually reducing his dependance on growing grain
might be a reasonable basis for trade barriers."

I don't think so. Periods of time are different, countries are different,
cultures are different. Let the Indian government help their poor people to
survive. They don't need the good lessons of other governments, especially
yours.

Last but not least:

"Speaking only for myself and not my employer."

How fortunate is the one whose ideas are the same as those of his employer!

Best wishes,

Jean-Marie Gogue
Versailles  France
jmegogue@wanadoo.fr

[Moderator's Note:  Note - or maybe more accurately: editorial?  The dialogue
on this topic and especially the discussion between Neal, from east Tennessee
near me, and Jean-Marie Gogue, of the French Deming Association highlites
the power in the diversity of the DEN.  I am not sure about the reader,
but I find this multi-cultural approach to learning SoPK facinating.