A critique of permission

The need for permission trains children to be low-autonomy. Even if you consider them not yet capable of steering the ship, increasing the autonomy of someone you are responsible for is always some kind of risk, but it is a risk you must be taking and re-evaluating.

You need to raise your hand to go to the bathroom. Ask your parents when you can hang out with your friends. Get a signed note to miss school.

This makes you an employee, a kid, a sheep in need of shepherding, and a drone without thoughts if you can’t break free.

Permission is a barrier to agency. It makes us feel selfish, or as if we’re breaking some kind of unspoken social rule when we act without permission. This is why creatives and entrepreneurs are always seen as “Disruptive”. Even academia is subject to dogma’s which capture people into the matrix of permissions. It’s a check and balance system.

Many entrepreneur types love the phrase “Ask for forgiveness, not permission.” as a means to act first, then talk to gatekeepers later. (Contra: horrible strategy in relationships. Romeu story)

Permission is a system of social accountability, it has to look at the bigger picture, at most people. So it will overlook and be more annoying than any good for high-agency individuals. Most of the “Rules” aren’t real it’s just Social conditioning.

Reference

Almanack of Naval Ravikant The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fck by Mark Manson Accountability On Agency