...more groupthink

When I was on looking at comments, I saw that my post from before somehow got messed up and did not post about half of what I wrote. My fault for not looking to make sure earlier.

Anyway, I will recreate what I remember saying..
THe theme of groupthink versus individual flexibility to adapt to the situation is a salient theme in both works. Since this was written during the Cold War, the obvious parallel is that Communism will falter because the individual's abilities reign supreme over the collective group abilities. The communal nature of the enemies is similiar (although not identical) to the Borg, where knowledge was all collective and centralized. The ability to think independently and reason is part of what differentiates us from animals (although I realize that computers challenge the reasoning aspect of this).

However, my mom actually had an interesting interpretation of this. She interpreted it as a lesson about micro-management, and how an organization will run much more efficiently if individual employees are allowed the flexibility to make decisions themselves without having it approved by a chain of command. This relates to much of what Thomas Friedman says in "The World Is Flat". The old heirarchical structures of corporations are breaking down because in part, they are not as efficient or productive as a more streamlined, level organizational structure. I work for Homeland Security, and the heirarchy is just ridiculous--it is so hard to get anything done, especially if you're young. For Card to have seen the falability in something like this well ahead of his time is very acute.