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Hello Martin, my name is mtts. I'm pretty sure that having a work ethic and abilities to succeed is strongly correlated to what family you're born into. I'm no

by mtts 15y ago

Hello Martin, my name is mtts. I'm pretty sure that having a work ethic and abilities to succeed is strongly correlated to what family you're born into. I'm not sure what exactly the consequences of that knowledge should be, but I'm pretty sure it should at least involve not allowing those who have been born in fortuitous (and work ethic and abilities enhancing) circumstances to get so far ahead the less fortunate no longer have a chance to catch up.

jterce 15y ago
> not allowing those who have been born in fortuitous (and work ethic and abilities enhancing) circumstances to get so far ahead the less fortunate no longer have a chance to catch up. I find this very troubling. Why should we prevent people from succeeding? I think rather than not allowing people to advance society would be better served by finding ways to help those behind advance. Also, why is it so important to catch up? Why cannot some do well and rise to the top while others do well (for their skill level) and not make it all the way to the top? What is so bad about that?
maratd 15y ago
> the less fortunate no longer have a chance to catch up. You just spit in the face of every "less fortunate" individual who worked harder than everybody else and did catch up. It makes his accomplishment seem rather worthless. After all, he could have simply accepted the charity of someone like you or supported a system where that charity was systematically dispensed. Why bust your ass and work hard? Oh, that brings me to the next point. Incentives. You just killed any incentive to work hard and bust your ass if you're in the "less fortunate" group. Why bother? You can just wait until someone helps you up.
- atakan_gurkan 15y ago
  For every less fortunate that works hard and succeeds, there are thousands that work hard and do not succeed; their efforts simply go to increase the wealth of the wealthy who hold the capital. My heart goes out to them, and I wish their exploitation would stop. Reducing the wealth gap, or more to the point, not allowing it to expand exponentially is not the same as removing it. There will always be a gap, there will always be incentives.
  - maratd 15y ago
    What people like you don't understand is that there is real value in failure. A system that removes failure from the equation reduces the quality of life for everyone. You are hurting the very people you claim you are helping.

by mtts 15y ago

jterce 15y ago

> not allowing those who have been born in fortuitous (and work ethic and abilities enhancing) circumstances to get so far ahead the less fortunate no longer have a chance to catch up. I find this very troubling. Why should we prevent people from succeeding? I think rather than not allowing people to advance society would be better served by finding ways to help those behind advance. Also, why is it so important to catch up? Why cannot some do well and rise to the top while others do well (for their skill level) and not make it all the way to the top? What is so bad about that?

maratd 15y ago

> the less fortunate no longer have a chance to catch up. You just spit in the face of every "less fortunate" individual who worked harder than everybody else and did catch up. It makes his accomplishment seem rather worthless. After all, he could have simply accepted the charity of someone like you or supported a system where that charity was systematically dispensed. Why bust your ass and work hard? Oh, that brings me to the next point. Incentives. You just killed any incentive to work hard and bust your ass if you're in the "less fortunate" group. Why bother? You can just wait until someone helps you up.

atakan_gurkan 15y ago
For every less fortunate that works hard and succeeds, there are thousands that work hard and do not succeed; their efforts simply go to increase the wealth of the wealthy who hold the capital. My heart goes out to them, and I wish their exploitation would stop. Reducing the wealth gap, or more to the point, not allowing it to expand exponentially is not the same as removing it. There will always be a gap, there will always be incentives.
- maratd 15y ago
  What people like you don't understand is that there is real value in failure. A system that removes failure from the equation reduces the quality of life for everyone. You are hurting the very people you claim you are helping.