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People want life to be fair, and the fact that we are all born with different levels of intelligence disproves that.

whimsicalism 6y ago
> People want life to be fair, and the fact that we are all born with different levels of intelligence disproves that. I think that the way we as humans decide to structure society determines whether life is fair, not natural circumstance. Just because you are born smart does not mean you are born more deserving.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  What does it mean to deserve something? Do short and tall people equally deserve to be in the NBA? Do slow and fast people equally deserve to run in the summer Olympics? No amount of exercise will give me the garden hoses for veins that someone I know has, but I can still work to reach my own potential. Should I still be given a job that requires holding a jackhammer over my head for 8 hours a day because it's not fair? Why is it socially acceptable to be taller or stronger or faster, but not to be smarter or more studious?
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    > What does it mean to deserve something? Exactly - "to deserve" is a nonsense notion in these contexts! Tall people in the NBA might lead to a more beneficial outcome (more interesting games?) but it does not arise because tall people are more "deserving" of being in the NBA. Since we get to choose how to structure the human sphere of the "game" of life, it seems better to optimize for an outcome that is fair, ie. equally attentive of people's moral worth. If that requires giving more $ to some who are more talented in order to better off everyone, then life does seem fair because our society is structured w.r.t. everyone's benefit.
thotsBgone 6y ago
Denial of the validity of IQ is one of the main factors that justifies the biggest form of discrimination in existence: discrimination based on intelligence. I was born wealthy, and some people are born homeless, purely based on IQ. This is patently unfair, but you can't address that if IQ isn't real. I think people deny the validity of IQ because they are afraid if IQ is real then our society is structured in a way that is very unfair to people with low IQ.

> People want life to be fair, and the fact that we are all born with different levels of intelligence disproves that. I think that the way we as humans decide to structure society determines whether life is fair, not natural circumstance. Just because you are born smart does not mean you are born more deserving.

nitrogen 6y ago
What does it mean to deserve something? Do short and tall people equally deserve to be in the NBA? Do slow and fast people equally deserve to run in the summer Olympics? No amount of exercise will give me the garden hoses for veins that someone I know has, but I can still work to reach my own potential. Should I still be given a job that requires holding a jackhammer over my head for 8 hours a day because it's not fair? Why is it socially acceptable to be taller or stronger or faster, but not to be smarter or more studious?
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  > What does it mean to deserve something? Exactly - "to deserve" is a nonsense notion in these contexts! Tall people in the NBA might lead to a more beneficial outcome (more interesting games?) but it does not arise because tall people are more "deserving" of being in the NBA. Since we get to choose how to structure the human sphere of the "game" of life, it seems better to optimize for an outcome that is fair, ie. equally attentive of people's moral worth. If that requires giving more $ to some who are more talented in order to better off everyone, then life does seem fair because our society is structured w.r.t. everyone's benefit.

thotsBgone 6y ago

Denial of the validity of IQ is one of the main factors that justifies the biggest form of discrimination in existence: discrimination based on intelligence. I was born wealthy, and some people are born homeless, purely based on IQ. This is patently unfair, but you can't address that if IQ isn't real. I think people deny the validity of IQ because they are afraid if IQ is real then our society is structured in a way that is very unfair to people with low IQ.