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And there is the failure of so much modern thinking, laid out in black and white: your financial picture is your measure of success. God I hate greed and the

And there is the failure of so much modern thinking, laid out in black and white: your financial picture is your measure of success. God I hate greed and the profit motive more than anything else in this whole wacky place. I would love to die in average suburban comfort if it meant the billions I'd made had all gone to deserving causes and not to any flagrant lifestyle of my own.

bubblewrap 7y ago
I don't see how your desire is incompatible with the comment above it. You can give all your money to deserving causes. By the definition of the previous post, you have then succeeded in life, because you have no money left. If you don't give money to deserving causes and happen to have some left, you have been cheated by life. It's pretty similar to what you say (except it gives you more options on what you want to spend on).
roenxi 7y ago
Greed and the profit motive are proxies for resources not being infinite and so we have to make hard choices about who gets what. What doesn't get managed (observe->think->act if needed) gets squandered; and if we squander resources at the societal level that would just be stupid. We don't have the abundance of the modern era because luck is on our side, we have it because our management practices have grown unbelievably efficient over the centuries. Economic forces are the most effective way of triggering the management cycle; and because of that are necessary. The need to focus on the material (which manifests as greed and profit seeking) is an ugly fact of life in the same way that needing to eat regularly is an ugly fact of life. It'd be better if we could get rid of both, but there are practical considerations to bow to.
- jononor 7y ago
  You forgot how we (as a society) have been consuming fossil fuel resources (in particular) way above a sustainable rate. Millions of years of accumulated resources gone in tens of years. Possibly 'efficient' in the short term, but most likely problematic in the longer term - even without accounting for climate change.

bubblewrap 7y ago

I don't see how your desire is incompatible with the comment above it. You can give all your money to deserving causes. By the definition of the previous post, you have then succeeded in life, because you have no money left. If you don't give money to deserving causes and happen to have some left, you have been cheated by life. It's pretty similar to what you say (except it gives you more options on what you want to spend on).

roenxi 7y ago

Greed and the profit motive are proxies for resources not being infinite and so we have to make hard choices about who gets what. What doesn't get managed (observe->think->act if needed) gets squandered; and if we squander resources at the societal level that would just be stupid. We don't have the abundance of the modern era because luck is on our side, we have it because our management practices have grown unbelievably efficient over the centuries. Economic forces are the most effective way of triggering the management cycle; and because of that are necessary. The need to focus on the material (which manifests as greed and profit seeking) is an ugly fact of life in the same way that needing to eat regularly is an ugly fact of life. It'd be better if we could get rid of both, but there are practical considerations to bow to.

jononor 7y ago
You forgot how we (as a society) have been consuming fossil fuel resources (in particular) way above a sustainable rate. Millions of years of accumulated resources gone in tens of years. Possibly 'efficient' in the short term, but most likely problematic in the longer term - even without accounting for climate change.