"By appealing to rules we are engaging in a war on wisdom..." - Truth.

This is prescient as hell.

Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.

Excerpts:

"Rules and incentives may make things better in the short run, but they create a downward spiral that makes them worse in the long run. Moral skill is chipped away by an over reliance on rules that deprives us of the opportunity to improvise and learn...

[Rules] prevent disaster but what they ensure in its place is mediocrity."