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This is diving into a conversation that may be best not had on HNN. @Dang - delete this if you like man, no offense taken. I don't think the goal is equity bu

This is diving into a conversation that may be best not had on HNN. @Dang - delete this if you like man, no offense taken. I don't think the goal is equity but equality. At least, that is my goal. I want the lowliest shoeshine boy to have the opportunity to do amazing things. I make no apologies for the country I was born or the circumstances. I grew up on a poor farm in a broken trailer surrounded by my backwoods relatives. I chose to do something different. My view does not make sense only in an 'equitable world' - consider the inverse. If everyone decides not to work because they are 'owed food so as to not starve' then who will harvest the grain, who will sow the fields, who will till the earth. A policy that would require people to work and then give away all of their product is not equity its slavery.

vladharbuz 4y ago
I really think you would get some interesting perspective out of reading “The Tyranny of Merit” by Michael J. Sandel, and I'm really curious how the ideas in the book would come together with your views. I would be happy to gift you the book if there was a way to do so.
catlifeonmars 4y ago
You are equating work with the production of value (in some way shape or form). However, machines can till the earth.
- OrangeMonkey 4y ago
  Whos sweat and blood was used to make the machine that was taken from him and given to someone else? Look, at some point we may be in a true post-scarcity environment where we can fabricate food/clothing/items with just energy from an abundant resource. At that time, I will consider this question anew. Until then, I just don't think it has legs.
  - pwinnski 4y ago
    It is quite possible we could live in a post-scarcity economy today, at least in rich countries, if we chose to eliminate scarcity on food and clothing and shelter and health care. During the pandemic, many (most?) US schools stopped charging to feed kids during the school day. Food suddenly became free. My own daughter still brought lunch from home every day, but a lot of kids ate better than they had been, and food scarcity, in that small context, stopped being an issue. This year they seem to be ending that, but it definitely demonstrated that we could do more than we are, if we wanted to.
  - catlifeonmars 4y ago
    I think a post scarcity environment is achievable with today’s technology. It’s today’s political and socioeconomic systems which are preventing that from becoming a reality.

vladharbuz 4y ago

I really think you would get some interesting perspective out of reading “The Tyranny of Merit” by Michael J. Sandel, and I'm really curious how the ideas in the book would come together with your views. I would be happy to gift you the book if there was a way to do so.

catlifeonmars 4y ago

You are equating work with the production of value (in some way shape or form). However, machines can till the earth.

OrangeMonkey 4y ago
Whos sweat and blood was used to make the machine that was taken from him and given to someone else? Look, at some point we may be in a true post-scarcity environment where we can fabricate food/clothing/items with just energy from an abundant resource. At that time, I will consider this question anew. Until then, I just don't think it has legs.
- pwinnski 4y ago
  It is quite possible we could live in a post-scarcity economy today, at least in rich countries, if we chose to eliminate scarcity on food and clothing and shelter and health care. During the pandemic, many (most?) US schools stopped charging to feed kids during the school day. Food suddenly became free. My own daughter still brought lunch from home every day, but a lot of kids ate better than they had been, and food scarcity, in that small context, stopped being an issue. This year they seem to be ending that, but it definitely demonstrated that we could do more than we are, if we wanted to.
- catlifeonmars 4y ago
  I think a post scarcity environment is achievable with today’s technology. It’s today’s political and socioeconomic systems which are preventing that from becoming a reality.