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1) The accident of birth is the greatest uncontrolled variable that affects long-term outcome. If you enter the game as the child of wealthy parents in a wealth

by kiba 4y ago

1) The accident of birth is the greatest uncontrolled variable that affects long-term outcome. If you enter the game as the child of wealthy parents in a wealthy society, your chances of 'winning' are probably about 100X higher than if born to poor parents in a poor society. There are a range of other possibilities, of course - poor parents in a wealthy society (more opportunities), wealthy parents in a poor society (more risks), etc. If it's a game, it's hardly a level playing field. Then there's genetics to consider, which nobody really understands that well, though most seem to claim to. Sure, we're all accidents of birth and it's not a playing field, but that doesn't lead to actionable advice.

photochemsyn 4y ago
If it's a game, then clearly a winning strategy for the poor people is to steal / seize / obtain the resources from the rich people by any means available? Seems quite actionable, if perhaps socially destabilizing. War is a game, revolution is a game, bank robbery is a game? Perhaps, however, there's something fundamentally problematic with this 'life is a game' viewpoint? See Tom Cruise as 'A Player' in Tropic Thunder, that at least was meant as satire: https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8 https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8
- phkahler 4y ago
  It's not a game that you win or lose. It's a classic arcade game - meant to last a variable but finite time. Score is only a rough metric. It's all about mastery along the way.
- zeroonetwothree 4y ago
  There’s a reason we evolved a fairly consistent set of ethics. Crime actually isn’t a great strategy. It’s too easy to detect and punish. Now there are more subtle forms of ‘cheating’ that do work well but they require some modicum of success first. You can’t bribe the local government to favor your business if you don’t have one in the first place.

by kiba 4y ago

photochemsyn 4y ago

If it's a game, then clearly a winning strategy for the poor people is to steal / seize / obtain the resources from the rich people by any means available? Seems quite actionable, if perhaps socially destabilizing. War is a game, revolution is a game, bank robbery is a game? Perhaps, however, there's something fundamentally problematic with this 'life is a game' viewpoint? See Tom Cruise as 'A Player' in Tropic Thunder, that at least was meant as satire: https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8 https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8

phkahler 4y ago
It's not a game that you win or lose. It's a classic arcade game - meant to last a variable but finite time. Score is only a rough metric. It's all about mastery along the way.
zeroonetwothree 4y ago
There’s a reason we evolved a fairly consistent set of ethics. Crime actually isn’t a great strategy. It’s too easy to detect and punish. Now there are more subtle forms of ‘cheating’ that do work well but they require some modicum of success first. You can’t bribe the local government to favor your business if you don’t have one in the first place.