Jean Buridan, the 14th-century French philosopher, is often credited with developing the concept of “impetus” as a prelude to what is known today as “inertia.” Buridan’s major claim to fame was a thought experiment known as Buridan’s Ass. Buridan’s Ass is an illustration of a paradox in philosophy dealing with the idea of free will. The paradox pertains to a hypothetical situation, where a donkey that is equally hungry and thirsty is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it dies of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision between the hay and water.
As 2020 rushes upon us, there is a plethora of electoral events serving as timely reminders that the once in every five-year political dance is not far away. The arrest on criminal charges of a former attorney general and a sitting member of the current Government, are merely previews of more politically titillating events to come. It will not be about an economy over-dependent on oil and gas resources that is inexorably in decline. It will not be about the blood that is washing our streets or the massacre of fishermen (qualified as a massacre by USA standard as more than four deaths. But not so classified in T&T). It will not be about the steady flow of corruption that continues to destroy the fabric of our society and the failure to fully implement procurement legislation. It will not be about the collapse of inter-island transportation, a declining health sector and the failure to meaningfully open the Couva Hospital after almost four years from the date of its construction. It will not be about an underperforming educational system or the failure of the Water and Sewerage Authority of T&T to provide the majority of its citizens with the liquid of life on a consistent basis despite being a land with six months of rain and perennial flooding. So what will it be about?
Buridan’s Ass is starving and there are two tables with food to choose from. There is the yellow table offering as appetisers: relaxation of environmental regulations in a world that is increasingly demanding stricter application of environmental regulations, “Deregulate and simplify the processes for environmental clearances and approvals for new and existing businesses. Over-regulation and prohibitive initial requirements increase start-up costs, cause time delays which chases away new businesses and often stifles fledgling ones.” As its main course: there is an economic restoration plan predicated on reducing the corporate tax rate, “Lower corporation taxes to a minimum of 18% over the next five years. Businesses know best how to utilise their own money for growth” (Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Message on Moving the Economy Forward: Let’s get T&T Working Again, Jan 17, 2019). The underlying assumption is that the lowering of the corporate tax rate will give businesses monies upfront which will result in a display of generosity of spirit, whereby such monies will be re-invested in the economy and so lead to greater prosperity for all. Is this a reasonable assumption in a country where capital flight is common and excessive cash is often spent on facilitating luxury lifestyles? (See the palatial houses and the Range Rovers as vivid examples). And for dessert, the yellow table is stacked with laptops to be delivered to Form One students entering secondary schools. Notwithstanding the absence of evidence to show that in the near decade over which this dessert was offered courtesy the yellow table, the human capital and information technology skills of T&T has improved for the betterment of the country.
As Buridan’s Ass turns its gaze upon the red table, there are no main courses. The table is scattered with a few appetisers: an interchange in Curepe; a port in Toco; a new airport in Tobago; a highway to Toco and ferries upon ferries. None of which, save the new airport in Tobago, appears to even be able to start to quell the gnawing hunger in the belly of Buridan’s Ass. And for dessert, the table is surrounded by chanting waiters robed in red, praying for oil and gas discoveries.
The unattractiveness of the two tables creates inertia for Buridan’s Ass, as the question is from which equally unpalatable table should he/she seek to satisfy his/her hunger? Therein lies the paradox. And so as in the original version, the inability to make a rational decision as to which table to eat from may lead Buridan’s Ass to die from starvation.
Professor Rajendra Ramlogan, Commercial and Environment Law, The University of the West Indies. The views expressed are entirely his own.