>[!abstract] >Clay Shirky (born 1964) is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies and journalism. In April 2010, [Wired magazine founding executive editor] Kevin Kelly cited the phrase "Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution", and called it the "Shirky Principle", as the phrasing reminded him of the clarity of the [[Peter Principle]] (Wikipedia, 2025). >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): [[Pournelle's iron law of bureaucracy]] >- **West** (similar): [[Self-licking ice cream cone]] >- **East** (different): — >- **South** (downstream): —