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The roots of this run really deep, back to the invention of Agriculture, civilization, and more
The problem of large scale long term distribution of resources is a problem that civilization tries to solve. Notice the word "try" this has been the major problem since the invention of agriculture.
Hunter gatherers did not have this problem.
If you are clever enough to farm enough so your family is provided for the winter, those who are not as clever as you or who are not as industrious as you might show up in the middle of winter, etc. looking for and maybe even demanding their handout.
Organizing things so that people are not continuously raiding each other for resources is a function of civilization.
However, things are not always organized fairly, and so politics happens, legal systems evolve. and we get elites and nobility and other weird things. We get things like excessive privilege based on power and discussions of the various kind of privileges that people enjoy based on their social status (as talked about by the Social Justice Movement).
and we get things like "the rich" when people try to game the system for their own benefit. And then you get people who do not think this is fair.
it is a conflict between the old hunter-gather sense of ethics and the agricultural organizational ethics, writ large and mutated to a grand scale.
and if we do not want to go back the Hunter Gather Culture we will need some sort of system.
We have this situation where there WERE mega villages of hunter gatherers, with everyone one being pretty equal, and the mega-villages fell apart. Ultimately It was not sustainable. It could not "scale" properly. To get ahead you need to be able to organize and plan, and not everyone is going to agree.
for more on this. see this fine article https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-farming-almost-destroyed-human-civilization-1659734601
So what is the solution if you do not have a set of laws?
And of course, some people merely want to substitute one form of privilege or power for another. What was once yours is now theirs, or what was once theirs in now yours, etc. Even if under the guise of one label or another (Social Justice, MAGA, or whatever)
(One major complaint of many trump supporters is that the system is unfair, and everyone else is getting a piece of the pie while they are not, so why not burn the place down?)
And since I happen to sort of like civilization, I guess that puts me on the side of people who like to be rich.
Making a proper system is a problem because of the two impulses.
We even see this problem in things like the house guest who won't leave, and the large version of this with illegal immigrants etc.
The roots of this run really deep, back to the invention of Agriculture, civilization, and more
The problem of large scale long term distribution of resources is a problem that civilization tries to solve. Notice the word "try" this has been the major problem since the invention of agriculture.
Hunter gatherers did not have this problem.
If you are clever enough to farm enough so your family is provided for the winter, those who are not as clever as you or who are not as industrious as you might show up in the middle of winter, etc. looking for and maybe even demanding their handout.
Organizing things so that people are not continuously raiding each other for resources is a function of civilization.
However, things are not always organized fairly, and so politics happens, legal systems evolve. and we get elites and nobility and other weird things. We get things like excessive privilege based on power and discussions of the various kind of privileges that people enjoy based on their social status (as talked about by the Social Justice Movement).
and we get things like "the rich" when people try to game the system for their own benefit. And then you get people who do not think this is fair.
it is a conflict between the old hunter-gather sense of ethics and the agricultural organizational ethics, writ large and mutated to a grand scale.
and if we do not want to go back the Hunter Gather Culture we will need some sort of system.
*We have this situation where there WERE mega villages of hunter gatherers, with everyone one being pretty equal, and the mega-villages fell apart. Ultimately It was not sustainable. It could not "scale" properly. To get ahead you need to be able to organize and plan, and not everyone is going to agree.*
for more on this. see this fine article https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-farming-almost-destroyed-human-civilization-1659734601
So what is the solution if you do not have a set of laws?
And of course, some people merely want to substitute one form of privilege or power for another. What was once yours is now theirs, or what was once theirs in now yours, etc. Even if under the guise of one label or another (Social Justice, MAGA, or whatever)
(One major complaint of many trump supporters is that the system is unfair, and everyone else is getting a piece of the pie while they are not, so why not burn the place down?)
And since I happen to sort of like civilization, I guess that puts me on the side of people who like to be rich.
Making a proper system is a problem because of the two impulses.
We even see this problem in things like the house guest who won't leave, and the large version of this with illegal immigrants etc.
It's not immoral for me to hold onto the things that I traded my non-refundable time for. That's how it works.
Additionally, while it may be morally reprehensible to not aid people who are in dire need, it is not moral required to do so.
white families in America have 16 times as much wealth on average as black families. This is indisputably because of slavery
And there it is. The "hate whites" crap. No one alive today had anything to do with slavery. Everyone alive today has had their own opportunities free and clear of slavery. The fact that we have to have this conversation reeks of the degeneracy of people who are mad because they're not rich.
Not even gonna read the rest of the article. But I will say this:
I started out so flippin' poor that I had to save 3 weeks to do a single load of laundry at the laundromat. New Year's 2012, I literally did not even have 25 cents. I was doing laundry in my bathtbub and was raging because I couldn't even go to a local bar who was doing 25 cent champagne glasses for New Year's. I got tired of it and decided to do something. I was gainfully employed 3 years later and am now in the lowest echelons of the upper class. Almost might as well call me "middle class" but it's technically not.
Five years. Five. Upwards mobility through the tax brackets is indeed rough and difficult and stories like mine are quite rare indeed. I admit that freely. But I have ADHD which is considered a learning disability. If I can do it, so can average Joe down the street who doesn't have any disadvantages.
So I don't want to hear people whining about how I'm obligated to help anyone because it's immoral not to. It's immoral to force me into uncompensated slavery to give my wealth to someone else. That's called "socialism" or perhaps even "communism." And it will be a cold day in hell before someone pries my money out of my cold, dead hands.
It's not immoral for me to hold onto the things that I traded my non-refundable time for. That's how it works.
Additionally, while it may be morally reprehensible to not aid people who are in dire need, it is not moral required to do so.
>white families in America have 16 times as much wealth on average as black families. This is indisputably because of slavery
And there it is. The "hate whites" crap. No one alive today had anything to do with slavery. Everyone alive today has had their own opportunities free and clear of slavery. The fact that we have to have this conversation reeks of the degeneracy of people who are mad because they're not rich.
Not even gonna read the rest of the article. But I will say this:
I started out so flippin' poor that I had to save 3 weeks to do a single load of laundry at the laundromat. New Year's 2012, I literally did not even have 25 cents. I was doing laundry in my bathtbub and was raging because I couldn't even go to a local bar who was doing 25 cent champagne glasses for New Year's. I got tired of it and decided to do something. I was gainfully employed 3 years later and am now in the lowest echelons of the upper class. Almost might as well call me "middle class" but it's technically not.
Five years. *Five*. Upwards mobility through the tax brackets is indeed rough and difficult and stories like mine are quite rare indeed. I admit that freely. But I have ADHD which is considered a learning disability. If I can do it, so can average Joe down the street who doesn't have any disadvantages.
So I don't want to hear people whining about how I'm obligated to help anyone because it's immoral not to. It's immoral to force me into uncompensated slavery to give my wealth to someone else. That's called "socialism" or perhaps even "communism." And it will be a cold day in hell before someone pries my money out of my cold, dead hands.
I agree with many of your points.
There is a difficult philosophical question lurking in the background, though. One that a lot a people do not look at, and one that I do not have a quick and easy answer for.
We have a more or less established justice system for individuals.
What do we do about justice between groups? Not just companies, but classes of people, nations, etc.
I am not sure of an answer
I agree with many of your points.
There is a difficult philosophical question lurking in the background, though. One that a lot a people do not look at, and one that I do not have a quick and easy answer for.
We have a more or less established justice system for individuals.
What do we do about justice between groups? Not just companies, but classes of people, nations, etc.
I am not sure of an answer
That's because the law is based on the idea of personal responsibility and protecting the individual from the government.
Perhaps the next form of republic will address the issues you talk about.
That's because the law is based on the idea of personal responsibility and protecting the individual from the government.
Perhaps the next form of republic will address the issues you talk about.
I personally think some of these CEOs are paid too much. Cheap labor has helped concentrate wealth. Perhaps tariffs can help.
And.. Yeah I'd buy the island too.