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Even beyond that, interpreting financial mobility is a tricky thing. For example, countries that have had high levels of meritocracy in the past may exhibit les
by ummonk 5y ago
Even beyond that, interpreting financial mobility is a tricky thing. For example, countries that have had high levels of meritocracy in the past may exhibit less financial mobility because people are already sorted into their merited economic brackets.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y agoHow can "merited economic brackets" span generations?
- Jensson 5y agoGenes. Of course people like you don't believe in genes, but it explains most things we see here. It is really hard to make poor people successful even if you give them resources, a top 10% childhood is extremely cheap compared to how much society derives from those, if it was that easy then Governments would already mass produce those. 70 years ago college was only for the elite. Today close to half of young adults go to college. Yet that didn't fix anything.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y agoWhat's a "person like me" ? What do I believe? Or not believe?
- popcube 5y agoI guess this is because we do not have blue blood:(
- Jensson 5y agoThe answer to your comment is obviously genes, so the only reason anyone would write in such a comment is that they reject that explanation. Blank slate people are always everywhere in threads like this.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y agoWrong. Just below is my response to someone else, and the point there is just as relevant as here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29537081 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29537081
- ummonk 5y agoCulture / upbringing tend to be passed on to some extent from one generation to the next, unless every child is raised in state boarding schools. And on the innate side, whether one hits the genetic lottery is correlated with whether one's parents and grandparents hit the genetic lottery.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y agoFor all of its problems, the core concept of a meritocracy is that you don't get positions in life simply based on ancestry. If the children of an astronomer really do turn out to be the best astronomers, then a meritocracy should theoretically allow them to become the best astronomers in the next generation. But they do not get to be the astronomers JUST because they had a parent who was good at that. Every generation gets a reset; if genetics really do predict merit, then sure, the arrangement will look a bit like ancestry.