From: The Matrix
This was probably the easiest to understand lecture yet. Normally it takes more thinking to achieve a level of comprehension or understanding of the speaker, on account of me being an engineer and not having that innate mindset or ability. However, everything Dr. Davies was saying was clear and made sense to me. When I saw the topic and had to think about the differences, I was a little torn, on one hand, I think people should be able to choose what they want to do and have the freedom to act of their own will. However, I also considered the greater good might require course people. The Driving example he gave at the beginning really made me consider that a full coercive approach is not a good idea at all. His other example of Mexico and Philadelphia really showed how laws and actions like that could really have negative effects. But with one catch, a full approach. Cooperation is really beneficial because it allows a person to express their freedom and choose wheater how they comply or if they comply with certain people and systems. but obviously, some people might not do the right thing or what's socially acceptable. Furthermore, some people might not be capable of making a sound or educated decision about certain things or actions. Exploitation is a huge problem in general, no matter if you are looking at coercion or cooperation it is a plague that exists everywhere. with coercion, it happens when you use coercion to exploit others. This is a point Davies made in his speech, stealing money, and enacting laws for personal benefit, are all more common than you think, and are objectively wrong. On the opposite end, when there is an environment solely for cooperation, corruption may take hold of an individual, or an individual might not have the ability or knowledge to cooperate, and in these circumstances. Corruption to take advantage of others is not exclusive to one approach, and Davies highlights this as well, are human nature is odd and kind of scary in that respect. Then Davies went back to the initial car problem and told us it would be complete anarchy if anyone could do anything they want. But what about our roads now? Sure we have regulations which are a form of coersion, but we aren't completely blind to everything, we still make decisions on where to go and how to get there, whether or not we let people pass or how we drive. Coercion is there to keep a level of safety for others, and cooperation facilitates free-thinking and independence. A mix of both is needed to maintain a successful society and form of government.