The Road to Serfdom, Session 2: Blind to the Miracles in Front of Us
Hayek points to the miracle of human action coordinated by decentralization.
The loop hike in the summer over Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Lafayette (Franconia Ridge in New Hampshire’s White Mountains) is consistently rated as one of the 10 most beautiful hikes in America. But don’t attempt it without training and preparation, and don’t even think about a winter hike without experience and near-perfect conditions.
The trail to the summit of Mount Lafayette climbs a steep and rugged 3550 feet over four miles. In the winter, snows bury the rocks, and after a storm, snowshoed hikers pack the snow into an almost smooth “herd path” that others, if conditions are right, can then hike with light crampons.
Step off that herd path, and you’ll find yourself stuck knee-deep or even waist-deep — in snow. I must admit (I’ll offer age as my defense) that my wife and I freeload off the intrepid snowshoers who pack the trail after a storm and make winter hiking infinitely easier.
One winter, my wife and I were hiking the Old Bridal Path trail up Mt. Lafayette.
On that pristine winter day, a fit young couple, well-outfitted for the cold, passed us. For a while, we hiked in earshot. They were sure the wonderful conditions on the packed trail must have been the product of intentional human design, with work crews shoveling the trail.
I was amazed at their certainty. There are hundreds of miles of snow-packed trails in the White Mountains, and nobody plans it. It is staggering to think after each winter storm rolled through, snow would be shoveled, over rugged terrain in brutal weather. Instead of creating a winter garden path, shoveling would expose the rocks and ledges, which would ice over, making a winter hike grueling and dangerous.
Just minutes into their hike, the young couple, confident in their explanation for the snow-packed trail, concluded a government agency or kind-hearted volunteers presumably did the shoveling.
Einstein wrote, “Whether you can observe a thing or not depends on the theory which you use. It is the theory which decides what can be observed.” In other words, the questions we are capable of asking depend upon the theory we are using to observe our world.
The young hikers reached their conclusion due to their theory of snow removal. It never occurred to them that what they were experiencing could be a product of “human action but not human design.”
Isn’t that the problem we face today? Many people can’t conceive of anything that is not designed.