The Architecture of Choice - Part 5: Beyond Paternalism: The Progress Found in the Freedom to Fail
The Architecture of Choice ← Series Home The Indispensability of Mistakes Human progress, whether measured in engineering feats, scientific breakthroughs, or personal development, is inherently linked to a fundamental concept rejected by paternalistic policies: the freedom to fail. As the engineer Henry Petroski noted, the history of engineering is largely one of learning from the occasional failure of structures, ships, or planes, suggesting that the “lessons learned from those disasters can do more to advance engineering knowledge than all the successful machines and structures in the world”. Attempting to eliminate all individual failure—the underlying goal of many soft and hard nudges—may unintentionally deprive individuals of critical life lessons and the ability to build cognitive resilience. ...