Arms Race
blogA great deal of human suffering would be avoided if we decided to place a limit on things that are subject to arms race. An arms race is a situation in which competitors waste money, time and energy, yet end up in the same situation as if they had never started the arms race.
In athletics, they have decided that taking drugs is a step too far (not least because taking drugs is something that can escalate to the point of early death – see Florence Joyner Griffith). In football, perhaps we could protect the national game by having no more than three foreigners in a football team.
By imposing these arbitrary agreements, and by sticking to them, we make things more interesting. Part of the challenge is to play within the rules.