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Paul's thesis here seems to be a confused grasp at what others have described, more simply, as the benefits of capitalism: "A good company is honest. In a worl
by bdr 19y ago
Paul's thesis here seems to be a confused grasp at what others have described, more simply, as the benefits of capitalism: "A good company is honest. In a world of complete information, two parties will transact iff they both benefit. This positive-sum interaction creates wealth."
What am I missing?
- pg 19y agoWhat am I missing? http://www.paulgraham.com/good.html http://www.paulgraham.com/good.html
- bdr 19y agoYeah, I actually had wanted to edit the grandparent, but it was too late. Your talk yesterday was too rich for me to follow -- I spent the second half thinking about the first half -- and I had trouble following anything today. Sorry.
- phr 19y agoAgreed. If you buy my house, that means I wanted your money more than I wanted to keep my house. So I've gained from the transaction. Likewise, you must have wanted the house more than the money. So you also gained. Barring fraud, we've each done the other a service. The problem is that people either never learn this, or they forget it somewhere along the line.
- bdr 19y agoOne way to summarize that is to say that a moral* and successful business is necessarily helping people. However, there are other benefits (to your business) of acting morally: see the "Morale", "Help", and "Compass" sections of the essay. ;) * "moral" may be too broad here, but "honest" is too narrow