4 ms·

This would be far more interesting if you kept the premises to yourself and got busy with the applications. Delete your essay about why capitalism is good, and

This would be far more interesting if you kept the premises to yourself and got busy with the applications. Delete your essay about why capitalism is good, and replace it with an essay extolling the virtues of price gouging during natural disasters. (Price gouging during natural disasters is a good thing, because it encourages the accumulation of excess gougable goods. If a hurricane means you can rent your $500 chainsaw out for $10,000, it also means that it makes economic sense to own a chainsaw you'll rarely--or never--use. The disaster reallocates capital from the people who accumulated cash to the people who accumulated physical goods that help them survive disasters. The efficient market triumphs.)

philwelch 17y ago
"This would be far more interesting if you kept the premises to yourself and got busy with the applications." That's actually the exact opposite of philosophy.
SapphireSun 17y ago
Shameless self promotion: I started a blog to deal with some applications (it only has one essay so far (on consciousness) though): http://wsessays.blogspot.com/ http://wsessays.blogspot.com/
barrkel 17y ago
Of course, gouging may also attract social opprobrium or worse, get you killed.
- eru 17y ago
  That's why you need to spread the wisdom about the benefits of gouging _before_ the disaster.
  - vl 17y ago
    That's why you need to stockpile 9mm Luger and 5.56 NATO ammo. In case of truly large-scale natural disaster ammo will quickly become standard (and possibly only) exchange equivalent. In other words ammo will replace money.
    - eru 17y ago
      Perhaps in the US or Switzerland or Canada. I guess we do not have enough handguns in most of Europe for this to become feasible. If I was a survivalist, I'd stockpile canned food and some can openers. By the way, do you have any data for your argument i.e. any incident after which ammo was the primary means of exchange? After the last war in Germany, cigarettes were pretty big. What do people in Haiti use? (Or is this not large-scale enough?) What did people use after the Tsunami in south-east Asia?

philwelch 17y ago

"This would be far more interesting if you kept the premises to yourself and got busy with the applications." That's actually the exact opposite of philosophy.

SapphireSun 17y ago

Shameless self promotion: I started a blog to deal with some applications (it only has one essay so far (on consciousness) though): http://wsessays.blogspot.com/ http://wsessays.blogspot.com/

barrkel 17y ago

Of course, gouging may also attract social opprobrium or worse, get you killed.

eru 17y ago
That's why you need to spread the wisdom about the benefits of gouging _before_ the disaster.
- vl 17y ago
  That's why you need to stockpile 9mm Luger and 5.56 NATO ammo. In case of truly large-scale natural disaster ammo will quickly become standard (and possibly only) exchange equivalent. In other words ammo will replace money.
  - eru 17y ago
    Perhaps in the US or Switzerland or Canada. I guess we do not have enough handguns in most of Europe for this to become feasible. If I was a survivalist, I'd stockpile canned food and some can openers. By the way, do you have any data for your argument i.e. any incident after which ammo was the primary means of exchange? After the last war in Germany, cigarettes were pretty big. What do people in Haiti use? (Or is this not large-scale enough?) What did people use after the Tsunami in south-east Asia?