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I can't see how 20% is a 'perfectly just world'. It is not a perfectly just - it is a perfectly random world. If it was 20%, it means that person from every fam

I can't see how 20% is a 'perfectly just world'. It is not a perfectly just - it is a perfectly random world. If it was 20%, it means that person from every family (wrt. parent's incomes) has equal chance to end up rich or poor, meaning that there is nothing that parents could do to help their child. It means nothing but a totalitarian, concentration camp society, because even if education, healthcare etc. are perfectly equal and free for everyone, there is still a personal example and values taught to the person by his parents that define a lot of his future. If i could not do anything at all to help my children succeed, i'd call it anything but fair. Of course, reverse - 0% chance - is called a caste system. It is also completely unjust. Middle ground - 10% - sounds about right.

TheCoelacanth 10y ago
> If it was 20%, it means that person from every family (wrt. parent's incomes) has equal chance to end up rich or poor, meaning that there is nothing that parents could do to help their child. That's not true. It would just mean that the parents' financial circumstances have no bearing on their ability to help their children.
literallycancer 10y ago
You could have equal chance to end up in the top quintile when measuring income, and still do things to help your kids succeed. It would just mean that those things wouldn't depend on the family income. E.g. people whose family is more educated than the average would have better chances to end up in the top quintile by income, regardless of how much money they make.
- anovikov 10y ago
  What's the point of being more educated if you don't make more? Fancy way to waste time?
  - literallycancer 10y ago
    Intellectual satisfaction. But you can ask that question about anything, really. What's the point of being stronger, if you can't just go and take other people's stuff? What's the point of being faster, when the first place prize is the same as the last?
  - EliRivers 10y ago
    That's what it is for me. I spent five and a half years slowly doing a masters in mathematics in my own time, evenings and weekends, for the pure thrill of it. Now I'm learning Japanese just for the sake of being able to read, write and speak Japanese. Wnet all the way to Tokyo in December for five mornings' worth of Japanese lessons (and some tourism stuff around it); just for the pleasure of learning something of interest. As you say, a fancy way to waste time. I understand some people do other things to the same ends; movies, television, music, socialising, drugs and alcohol, dancing, art, reading, writing, building things, making things, running, climbing, swimming, on and on and on. Oh, the range of things we humans do as fancy wastes of time.

TheCoelacanth 10y ago

> If it was 20%, it means that person from every family (wrt. parent's incomes) has equal chance to end up rich or poor, meaning that there is nothing that parents could do to help their child. That's not true. It would just mean that the parents' financial circumstances have no bearing on their ability to help their children.

literallycancer 10y ago

You could have equal chance to end up in the top quintile when measuring income, and still do things to help your kids succeed. It would just mean that those things wouldn't depend on the family income. E.g. people whose family is more educated than the average would have better chances to end up in the top quintile by income, regardless of how much money they make.

anovikov 10y ago
What's the point of being more educated if you don't make more? Fancy way to waste time?
- literallycancer 10y ago
  Intellectual satisfaction. But you can ask that question about anything, really. What's the point of being stronger, if you can't just go and take other people's stuff? What's the point of being faster, when the first place prize is the same as the last?
- EliRivers 10y ago
  That's what it is for me. I spent five and a half years slowly doing a masters in mathematics in my own time, evenings and weekends, for the pure thrill of it. Now I'm learning Japanese just for the sake of being able to read, write and speak Japanese. Wnet all the way to Tokyo in December for five mornings' worth of Japanese lessons (and some tourism stuff around it); just for the pleasure of learning something of interest. As you say, a fancy way to waste time. I understand some people do other things to the same ends; movies, television, music, socialising, drugs and alcohol, dancing, art, reading, writing, building things, making things, running, climbing, swimming, on and on and on. Oh, the range of things we humans do as fancy wastes of time.