The Vision of Friedrich August Von Hayek

History is filled with examples of man's folly. Sadly, that will no doubt continue being the case right up to the moment when mankind goes the way of the dodo bird. We presume, to site one example, to be able to protect ourselves from the elements yet are then hit by natural disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and suddenly the emptiness of our confidence is exposed. One would think these incidents, big and small, would be convincing enough to keep our hubris in-check, so we stop making promises we cannot keep; so that we accept the realty that which we can control is very limited. Sadly, sometimes tragically, they are not.


In 1974, the Austrian economist Friedrich August Von Hayek was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science. His acceptance speech, which he gave in December of that year, is one of the most famous in the history of this most prestigious honor. Titled "The Pretense of Knowledge," Von Hayek points the finger at his fellow economists for thinking they, with their theories and predictions, have the ability to control the behavior of countries and their people in order to shape successful societies, thus ignoring the great complexities of that most complex of all phenomena: life. Life's realities should be enough to teach  "the students of society a lessen of humility which should guard him against becoming an accomplice in men's fatal striving to control society...."


Von Hayek's observations are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago. They are particularly applicable to the field of communication as it stands today. Long before and certainly since the honoring of Von Hayek, scholars and practitioners  of communication have put forth theories and models that explain the workings of communication and how they result in people behaving in particular ways. These contributions have been many and often enlightening and insightful. But the fact is despite them, not all public relations efforts succeed. Misunderstandings continue to occur. People keep getting their signals crossed. Professional and even non-professional communicators  need to remember this hard-truth. Communication is an action one takes but does not or cannot control.