Original link: https://limboy.me/books/seeing-like-a-state/
This book actually talks about one thing: Oversimplification can lead to unexpected problems.
What is “oversimplification”? The book gives a good example:
In the country’s “fiscal forest”, the tree’s diverse uses are replaced by abstract trees represented by a single volume of wood and fuel. If the concept of forests is still pragmatic, then it is only pragmatism that directly addresses the needs of the state.
From a naturalistic point of view, almost everything is lost in the nation’s narrow frame of reference. Most of the plants, including grasses, flowers, lichens, ferns, moss, shrubs, vines, are gone. Reptiles, birds, amphibians, and numerous insects of all kinds were gone. All but the animals of interest to the Game Royale have disappeared.
From an anthropological point of view, issues involving the interaction of humans and forests are also almost entirely forgotten from the national pipeline vision. The state is concerned about poaching because it affects the revenue generated by timber and royal hunting, but is concerned with the numerous, complex and negotiable social uses of forests such as hunting, gathering, grazing, fishing, charcoal , digging and trapping animals, gathering food and precious minerals, and the important role of forests in witchcraft, worship, and refuge are often overlooked.
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